Freshmen Jacob Solomon and Will Long led the Auburn men’s golf team to fifth place Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional. The No. 8 Auburn men’s golf team built a nine-shot cushion towards advancing after a 2-over 290 improvement.
Following Wednesday’s final round, the top five teams and one individual not on those teams qualify for the 120th NCAA Men’s Golf Championship in Eugene, Ore., at The Eugene Country Club May 27-June 1.
No. 5 Georgia continues to lead at 10-under 284-282--566 followed by No. 17 South Carolina (287-282—569), Kentucky (288-287--575), Alabama (292-284--576), Auburn (294-290--584), UNLV (290-303—593), College of Charleston (298-295—593), Lipscomb (302-300—602), Colorado (296-306—602), Kansas (308-301--609), Harvard (323-298—621), Southern Illinois (314-308--622) and Charleston Southern (315-310--625).
“We just need to worry about Auburn and take care of business,” said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. “Once again, two days in a row now we played really, really well for 13-14 holes, and we can’t finish our rounds. We dropped five shots coming in today and dropped six shots yesterday. Our challenge tomorrow is to shoot under par and see if we can climb up this leaderboard a little bit.”
Long is playing in his first tournament in two months and is in a tie for 11th with an even par 73-71—144, five shots behind the leaders. The Gastonia, North Carolina native birdied three of his first four holes, doubled the sixth and bogeyed the eighth to turn even. He birdied Nos. 11 and 14 and bogeyed the 17th.
"I hit it really well and my putter was hot,” said Long. “I guess that is why I played well. My short game really bailed me out of trouble. I made a lot of key putts and hopefully tomorrow will go better than today.”
First-team All-SEC Michael Johnson slipped from a shot back in fourth with a 69 in the first round to a tie for 14th after a 76. He had four bogeys in the final six holes on the front, but played the back even with a pair of birdies and bogeys.
Solomon jumped from 42nd to a tie for 20th at 76-70—146 with five birdies and an eagle. The Dublin, California native doubled No. 2, eagled the par 5 third with a 25-yard chip-in.
"It was a really up and down round, but overall I played really well for most of it,” said Solomon. “I had an early double bogey and had a really good rebound, chipping in for eagle on the next hole. So, that was awesome. I was 25 yards just short right of the green on the par 5. I landed it right on the spot I wanted to. I heard it hit the pin. That was really exciting.”
Solomon birdied No. 5 followed by three-straight birdies on Nos. 9-11 to get to 4-under on the day.
All-American Ben Schlottman is tied for 34th at 76-74—150 with birdies at Nos. 7, 9 and 10 while All-SEC Matt Gilchrest is tied for 38th at 76-75—151 with birdies at Nos. 4, 12 and 17.
Auburn will tee off in Wednesday’s final round at 7:50 am CT off No. 1 with Alabama and College of Charleston.
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