SEC Match Play: Auburn edges out Vanderbilt in the championship match

It took extra holes, but JM Butler of Auburn defeated William Moll of Vanderbilt on Hole No. 21 to give Auburn the 3-2 victory over Vanderbilt in the SEC Match Play Championship Match at the Country Club of Birmingham in Birmingham, Ala.

Vanderbilt also finished runner-up in this event last year, falling to Tennessee in the championship match.

For Auburn, along with Butler, Ryan Eshleman secured wins in their matches. Koivun defeated Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt in 19 holes.

For Vanderbilt, Matthew Riedel and Cole Sherwood won their matches to earn two points.

JM on 20!!

Auburn defeats Vanderbilt 3-2 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Rypi70FunR

— Auburn Men's Golf (@AuburnMGolf) September 27, 2023

In the rest of the matches, all of the results finished 3-2. Texas A&M defeated Tennessee, Arkansas defeated Ole Miss, Alabama defeated Florida, Mississippi defeated LSU, Georgia defeated Missouri, and South Carolina defeated Kentucky.

In the stroke play, Nick Dunlap earned the medalist honors, with Sargent finishing one shot behind him in second place.

Dunlap shot 15-under with rounds of 70-65-63, while Sargent finished at 14-under with rounds of 64-65-70.

Dunlap birdied No. 18 to win dramatically.

The victory is Dunlap's second collegiate win of his career and first of the season. He set personal-best marks this week for an 18-hole score with his round of 8-under 63 and 54-hole total score vs. par at 15-under.

Dunlap becomes the fifth Alabama golfer to card a round sub-200 score for a tournament and the first to do so since Robby Shelton achieved the feat in the 2015 Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate.

Dunlap's total of 198 is tied for the second-lowest 54-hole tournament total in Alabama school history, second only to Bobby Wyatt's school record of 192 in the 2014 SEC Championship.

Brendan Valdes of Auburn finished in solo third place at 12-under, and JM Butler and Phichaksn Maichon of Texas A&M finished T4 at 11-under.