On Wednesday, Auburn men's golf and head coach Nick Clinard traveled to Hutchinson, Kansas for the 2014 NCAA Championships.
The Tigers' third place finish in last week's NCAA Auburn Regional was enough to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships, which makes the third year in a row Auburn has qualified for the national championships.
The event will be played at Prairie Dunes Country Club, which can experience wind gusts up to 40 mph at times.
Clinard said he knows the conditions may be difficult, and the golfers must account for it if the Tigers hope to come out victors.
"I talked to a guy today that's played it a few times, who had a very successful career as a pro, and the greens are kind of slopey and undulated," Clinard said. "Then obviously he said to learn to flight your ball because it can really, really blow out there."
"We want to keep the ball down based on the wind directions because it can go up to 40 mph out there," Clinard said. "We're doing a lot of lag putting too, working on our speed, control and touch."
Auburn will need one more strong performance by senior Niclas Carlsson, an All-SEC Second Team pick. Clinard said he knows how important his leadership is to the rest of the team.
"Niclas is our senior leader with his maturity and he can kind of lead them through because he remembers the day when he was a freshman and when he was immature," Clinard said. "He knows how much he's grown up as a golfer and a person."
In addition to the veteran Carlsson, freshman Will Long has provided strong performances in many of Auburn's recent tournaments.
"(Long)'s played great this whole spring," Clinard said. "He's averaging 71.38 and he just brings a lot to the table just from a competitive standpoint. He loves to compete and he likes to get after it even with guys on the team too."
Auburn will tee off Friday at 7:20 a.m. and Saturday at 12:40 p.m. They will be paired with UCLA and Southern Cal.
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