Southern Highlands Collegiate: Oklahoma holds off surging Auburn in Vegas

February 27, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Oklahoma Men's Golf team (Oklahoma Athletics Photo)

Ian Gilligan of Florida keeps his great season going, winning the individual competition by one shot

Oklahoma held on late to win the 2024 Southern Highlands Collegiate at Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nev., and beat a loaded field. The Sooners finished at 8-under to beat Auburn by three shots.

They shot team rounds of 284-291-281 to shoot 8-under and held the 36-hole lead. Oklahoma also won the team title in 2022, and Illinois won the team title over North Carolina in 2023.

Auburn finished in solo second place at 5-under behind rounds of 287-295-277. The Tigers' 11-under 277 final round propelled them four spots up the leaderboard and firmly into second place.

Viva Las Victory 🏆

Oklahoma holds off one of the top fields in college golf to win the Southern Highlands Collegiate!#BoomerSooner ☝️⛳ pic.twitter.com/NVaI1Wm9eF
— Oklahoma Golf (@OU_MGolf) February 28, 2024

There was a large gap between the top two teams and the rest of the field, with Texas finishing in solo third place at 2-over. First-round leader Florida struggled through the last 36 holes, finishing in solo fourth place at 4-over, while Illinois rounded out the top five, finishing in solo fifth place at 5-over.

San Diego State finished in solo sixth place at 7-over, North Carolina finished in solo seventh place at 8-over, and Missouri finished in solo eighth place at 11-over.

Ian Gilligan of Florida kept his good playing rolling, finishing at the top of the leaderboard by a narrow one-shot margin over Jase Summy of Oklahoma.

Gilligan shot rounds of 67-71-70 to finish 8-under.

The Florida junior and Long Beach State transfer has had a great season thus far. Gilligan won the 2023 Patriot All-American, finished in solo second place in the 2024 Sea Best Invitational, and finished in solo third place at the 2024 Florida Gators Invitational.

Gilligan has made a splash with his solid play and is currently ranked No. 37 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.

Summy had a stellar final round, shooting a 6-under 66 to jump nine spots into solo second place and just one shot back of Gilligan at 7-under. Summy shot rounds of 71-72-66.

Brendan Valdes of Auburn also jumped up the leaderboard in the final round, shooting a 5-under 67 to jump eight spots into solo third place at 6-under. 36-hole leader Jack Lundin of Missouri and Jackson Koivun of Auburn finished T4 at 5-under.

Lundin entered the final round at 8-under with a two-shot lead but shot a final-round 3-under 75 to fall to T5.

Drew Goodman of Oklahoma and Tommy Morrison of Texas finished T6 at 4-under and Albert Boneta of San Diego State finished in solo eighth place at 3-under.

Results: Southern Highlands Collegiate

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Ian Gilligan	Reno, NV	800	67-71-70=208
2	Jase Summy	Keller, TX	500	71-72-66=209
3	Brendan Valdes	Orlando, FL	400	72-71-67=210
T4	Jackson Koivun	Chapel Hill, NC	400	70-70-71=211
T4	Jack Lundin	Sioux Falls, SD	400	66-70-75=211