Wake Forest Invitational: Auburn keeps rolling at Pinehurst No. 2
Auburn Men's Golf team (Auburn Athletics Photo)
After debuting as the No. 1 team in the Bushnell/Golfweek D1 Coaches Poll for March, Auburn backed up the ranking by winning the Wake Forest Invitational at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club - No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C.
The Tigers shot 12-over and won by one shot over East Tennessee State, who finished in solo second place at 13-over. The Tigers shot rounds of 286-287-279. They entered the final round seven shots behind ETSU, but a 1-under final round for Auburn and a final-round 5-over for ETSU opened the door for Auburn to pull off the narrow win.
Auburn finished second at the Southern Highlands Collegiate and has followed up with this win. They will host the Tiger Invitational next week.
Host school Wake Forest finished in solo third place at 17-over, and Duke and Clemson finished T4 at 18-over. Northwestern finished in solo sixth place at 22-over.
Auburn finished second at the Southern Highlands Collegiate
In the individual competition, Jackson Koivun of Auburn and Mats Ege of East Tennessee State finished at the top of the leaderboard, finishing 1-under and the only two golfers that shot under par for the tournament.
Koivun shot rounds of 70-70-69, while Ege shot rounds of 71-70-68. Algot Kleen of East Tennessee State and Daniel Sheedy of Wake Forest were tied for the lead heading into the final round, but a final round 3-over 73 saw Kleen fall to 2-over and T4, and a final round 5-over 75 saw Sheedy fall to 4-over and T13.
Both Koivun and Ege made the first spring watch list for the Haskins Award, given to the top men's collegiate golfer of the year. Ege is ranked No. 12, and Koivun is ranked No. 40 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.
Related:
Haskins Award: First Spring watch list men's college golf player of the yearKoivun is the first true freshman for the Tigers to earn medalist honors at a team tournament since Matt Gilchrest in 2014.
ABOUT THE Wake Forest Invitational at Pinehurst #2
54-hole men's college tournament hosted by Wake
Forest University. Team (best four scores out of five
players each round) and individual competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information