Josiah Gilbert posted a 12-under performance to earn his first individual win of two-year collegiate career and lead the top-ranked Auburn men’s golf team to a third place finish at the Valero Texas Collegiate Monday afternoon at TPC San Antonio.
“Top three in a field this stacked is always something to be proud of,” Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. “We definitely left some shots out there and could’ve been better at times, especially mentally, but I am proud of our overall effort and the way we finished strong today.”
Competing as a team, Auburn concluded the three day tournament with a total score of 19-under 845. After a slow start in the final round, the Tigers shot 11-under over the final nine holes to post a day’s best 8-under-par.
Gilbert shot 66-67-71 (-12) to tie for first and earn the first low medalist honors of his career. He becomes the fourth Auburn player to capture an individual win this calendar year and the second this season joining Jackson Koivun.
“Felt good to put myself in the position I did this week,” Gilbert said. “It’s great reassurance that I’m doing the right things and I’ll be in contention more and more by doing those little things right. It’s something that’ll be great to build on for the rest of the season.”
After 54 holes of play, Gilbert and Virginia’s Ben James were deadlocked at 12-under. The duo was forced to play off since a future PGA Tour start hung in the balance. James won the playoff on the first hole.
Senior Brendan Valdes was another bright spot for the Tigers as he narrowly missed out on his 19th career top-10 finish but saved his best stuff for the last day as he fired an impressive 5-under 67 to close out the week. Valdes picked up birdies on 2, 3, 5 and 8 to shoot 35 on the front and went bogeyless on the back with four more birdies on 12, 14, 16 and 17.
The Orlando, Florida product led the Tigers, and ranked third in the 90-man field, with 17 birdies in the tournament.
For the rest of the Auburn lineup, senior Carson Bacha finished just outside the top-20 at 1-under (69-74-72) followed by sophomore Koivun at 1-over (70-74-73).
Freshman Billy Davis shot 3-over in his collegiate debut, carding his first career subpar round, a 2-under 70, on the final day. He shot 72 in round one and 77 in round two. Junior individual player Reed Lotter also shot 3-over (74-75-70).
The Tigers will return to the Lone Star state for the Ben Hogan Collegiate Monday, Sept. 30 through Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, TX.
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
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