Top-seeded Auburn men’s golf fell short of its SEC Championship aspirations this weekend, losing to No. 11 Ole Miss in the semifinals at Sea Island Golf Club after finishing atop the leaderboard in stroke play.
The Tigers commenced the 2026 SEC Championship with an 11-under-par round on Wednesday afternoon, placing third in round one and finding themselves just four shots back of the lead heading into round two.
Jackson Koivun led his squad with a 6-under-par 64 during the opening 18, and teammates Logan Reilly and Josiah Gilbert went subpar, as well. Cayden Pope and Jake Albert could not find the red numbers and turned in even scorecards for the day.
Auburn battled back to start their second round, as Koivun showcased a repeat performance of 6-under-par while Pope and Gilbert both improved immensely. The duo both shot 5-under-par to put their squad in sole first place at 27-under-par.
Friday marked the final day of stroke play before heading into match play, and Auburn took full advantage of its lead, as the Tigers took home their third consecutive stroke play title behind Koivun’s efforts, who remained atop the individual leaderboard for his third straight SEC Championship.
“It feels great any time you can come out here and win an SEC championship. It’s a huge honor,” Koivun said. “To be able to do it three times in a row, it’s good to put my name down in the history books.”
The stellar junior finished his two rounds of 64 with a 63 to end the tournament at 19-under-par, which was good for a seven-shot domination over second place.
With this historic victory, Koivun joins LSU’s B.R. Mclendon from the 1960’s as the Southeastern Conference’s only three-peat victors.
Koivun was not the only Tiger to excel on Friday, as all of Clinard’s squad posted red scores for their respective rounds, giving Auburn the top seed heading into the weekend match play quarterfinals with a 39-under-par total score.
“What an incredible day, all five guys under par,” Clinard said. “It’s the third year in a row we’ve won stroke play in the best conference in the country […] We’ve got to reset tonight. I told them they’d better get ready to play, because tomorrow morning, it doesn’t matter where we finished in stroke play. Everybody’s wanting to beat Auburn right now.”
No. 1 Auburn faced No. 8 South Carolina in the quarterfinals, and the Tigers found victory once again, defeating the Gamecocks 3-1-1 behind match play wins from Pope and Gilbert, as well as a playoff triumph from Reilly.
The Tigers then moved on to the SEC semifinals, where they faced No. 11 Ole Miss, the previous round one leaders from Wednesday. Reilly battled from an early deficit and was able to claim Auburn’s first victory against the Rebels, and Albert was able to find a win in dominating fashion.
However, Pope, Koivun and Gilbert all dropped their respective matches to end the Tigers SEC run in heartbreak fashion.
“I’m proud of our guys; I thought they played pretty good golf, Ole Miss just played better, especially when it came to the short game,” Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. “We’re proud of what we accomplished this week, particularly in stroke play, but there is more golf left to be played this season. We’ve still got a shot at a national championship, and that’s our goal.”
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Will is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @willdembo
