No. 1 Auburn finished third at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational, with two players finishing in the top five. Brendan Valdes earned a second-place spot and Billy Davis tied for third.
The top golfer in the tournament, David Ford, finished nine under par, while Valdes finished six under and Davis finished five under. The two were crucial to Auburn’s success at the tournament.
Valdes shot an impressive 69-66-69, birdieing 14 times and had his first career ace on hole 13 during round two. This performance gave the senior his nineteenth top 10 performance of his career at Auburn.
“It was a fun few days in Fort Worth,” Valdes said. “I’m happy with the way I played and am looking forward to more success. The team is in a great spot, and I know it’s only a matter of time of time before we all put our games together!”
Davis also had a tremendous tournament, only finishing one shot behind Valdes. The freshman shot 68-67-70 birdieing 11 times and had one eagle. Having a performance on a stage like this shows a ton of promise to his young career at Auburn.
Other contributors to Auburn’s third place finish include Josiah Gilbert, who had his tenth top 20 finish, shooting 72-69-71. He tied for fourteenth overall in the tournament, finishing two shots over even.
Finally, Jackson Koivun finished tied for twenty-eighth and shot 73-72-70. He shot five over par also aiding the Tigers to rally to a third-place spot.
The Tigers finished third in a stacked tournament including 13 of the 15 teams in the top 25 rankings. Auburn finished four under par behind second-place Texas by two shots, and missing the mark of first-place Oklahoma by six shots. Oklahoma was ranked eighth at the start of the tournament.
Though the Tigers did not get first, they played excellent and have learned a lot about their team fast as Auburn head coach Nick Clinard puts it.
“We played some very good golf at times the past two days on a difficult course,” Clinard said. “We are continuing to learn about ourselves, and we will continue to get better with time. We have an excellent team and need to keep working on our plan.”
The Tigers have some young talent that are continuing to show growth. Building off this third-place finish will help gather momentum going forward, especially for some of the younger players to gain this kind of experience.
The No. 1 Auburn Tigers will head to Wilmington, North Carolina on Sunday, Oct. 20 to play in the Williams Cup, hosted by Eagle Point Golf Club.
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Tyler Cox is a sophomore from Atlanta majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
