Auburn, Caden Fioroni of UNLV extend leads at Southern Highlands Collegiate

March 3, 2025 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Caden Fioroni (UNLV Athletics Photo)

The Tigers and Fioroni are both looking to secure wire-to-wire wins in Las Vegas

After finishing in second place last year, Auburn is looking to secure a wire-to-wire win at the 2025 Southern Highlands Collegiate at Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nev.

And that is without star Jackson Koivun.

Koivun is not playing due to his participation in the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week, but the Tigers still lead the competition by three shots at 2-under heading into the final round. The Tigers are the only team under par through 36 holes. Koivun is currently ranked No. 5 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.

UNLV is in solo second place at 1-over, and Pepperdine is in solo third place at 11-over.

The Tigers finished runner-up in the 2024 Southern Highlands Collegiate to the Oklahoma Sooners.

In the individual competition, Caden Fioroni of UNLV shot an impressive 5-under 67 to take a three-shot lead into the second round and followed it up with another 5-under 67 to get to 10-under. He carded six birdies and one bogey, including birdies on holes No. 16, 17, and 18, to finish strong in the first round and recorded five birdies and no bogeys in the second round.

He leads by five shots over Josiah Gilbert of Auburn. Gilbert is in solo second place at 5-under, and Ben James of Virginia is in solo third place at 3-under.

Fioroni is ranked No. 32 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings. The UNLV standout won the 2024 California Amateur and made the match play portion in the 2024 U.S. Amateur.

Results: Southern Highlands Collegiate

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Caden Fioroni	La Jolla, CA	800	67-67-73=207
2	Carson Bacha	York, PA	500	71-74-64=209
3	Ben James	Milford, CT	400	72-69-71=212
4	Josiah Gilbert	, Australia	400	70-69-74=213
5	Brendan Valdes	Orlando, FL	400	73-73-68=214