Auburn men's golf team did not advance to match play in its 19th NCAA Championships after placing 23rd Monday at Prarie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.
"The first 27 holes we played great, we were at nine-under par, and the last 27 - it hurts," Auburn head coach Nick Clinard told auburntigers.com. "It stings a little bit. It's probably the worst 27 holes in my 13-year coaching career."
Play on the first day at Prairie Dunes was suspended for the Tigers after three rain delays, which delayed play by eight hours and ten minutes, and did not continue until Saturday morning.
Auburn came out of the first day tied with Kennesaw State in ninth place. The Tigers were one of the 15 teams to get on the course Friday and finished the first round at plus-two.
David Stringfellow was the only Auburn golfer to finish his first nine holes at plus-one and had two birdies. Jake Mondy, plus-two, and Will Long, even-par, both got through eight holes. Matt Gilchrest finished seven holes at even-par while Niclas Carlsson was plus-one.
Weather conditions improved Saturday and Gilchrest tied for second at the end of his first round and finished at three-under, 67.
At the end of first round Auburn was tied with Alabama for third place at six-under par.
Auburn finished the second round at plus-six in a tie for 11th place with Vanderbilt and Washington. Gilchrest sank a birdie putt on 18 to help Auburn stay in the top-15 and advance to Monday's third round.
The Tigers finished the tournament at 20-over-par and their best score came from Gilchrest who shot 67-73-74--214 (+4) to tie for 57th.
"They have a lot to learn. They have a lot of growing up to do maturity-wise as people and as golfers," Clinard said of his team that counted two freshmen (Gilchrest and Long) and a sophomore (Mondy) among its five players. "This is a good experience for them. They get to realize what they have to work on and what they have to do to improve."
Carlsson (68-73-76--217) and Long (68-73-76--217) finished tied for 83rd and Mondy (71-76-74--221) and Stringfellow (71-73-77--221) tied for 113th at plus-11.
The top eight teams advancing to match play to determine the 2014 champion are No. 3 Stanford (-13), No. 1 Alabama (-4), No. 16 LSU (-4), No. 2 Oklahoma State (E), No. 4 Georgia Tech (+1), No. 21 UCLA (+4), No. 28 SMU (+5) and No. 9 Illinois (+5).
Georgia Tech's Ollie Schniederjans and Stanford's Cameron Wilson tied for the individual lead at minus-6, with Wilson winning in a playoff.
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