No. 1 Auburn heads to Colonial Country Club for Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational. Auburn will head to Fort Worth, Texas, competing in the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational on Monday. The tournament will last until Tuesday.
The teams competing with the Tigers in the tournament include No. 2 Arizona State, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Vanderbilt, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech, Pepperdine, Georgia, Stanford, and TCU is hosting it all. Last year, Oklahoma won the team title with a 54-hole score of 830.
The Tigers tied for second place at the Invitational at the Honors Course to kick off the season. Great play from Junior Josiah Gilbert helped pave the way for that placement, as he picked up his second career win.
Gilbert’s rounds of 73, 66 and 71 topped the lineup and helped him pick up the win alongside Cameron Tankersly of Ole Miss.
Without star player Jackson Koivun, Auburn was still able to pick up wins against Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Clemson, Pepperdine, Tennessee, and Duke in the Invitational at the Honors Course.
The No. 1-ranked amateur Koivun is set to compete at the tournament. He won the Ben Hogan Award in 2024 and has placed eleventh or better in four consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
The Tigers are looking to repeat what they did in their previous tournament, this time cementing themselves as the No. 1 team. With strong team play in the last tournament and having Koivun compete, the Tigers are a huge threat to all the other teams in the invitational.
Some of the Tigers’ freshmen, Jake Albert, Jack Roberts, and Logan Reilly, got some great experience at the last invitational. Auburn’s young talent has shown a ton of promise so far, as sophomore Billy Davis placed tied for eighth in the Invitational at the Honors Course. Davis shot 70, 7, 73 to cement his high placement in the tournament.
Consistent play in the two days the tournament is held will be crucial for the Tigers, as that paved the way for the second-place finish at the Invitational at the Honors Course. If Auburn can replicate its play from the Honors Course, the Tigers should have a great tournament and could pick up a huge team win.
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Tyler Cox is a sophomore from Atlanta majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
