April 19, 2017
AUBURN, Ala. - No. 19 Auburn Men's Golf begins play at the SEC Championship at the par-70, 6,989-yard Seaside Course at St. Simons Island, Ga., Friday through Monday.
Eight teams competing are ranked in the top 25 including No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 LSU, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 23 Ole Miss, No. 24 Missouri and No. 25 Georgia. Mississippi State, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and Alabama round out the field.
"We are looking forward to competing at a great venue and against an outstanding field," Auburn head coach Nick Clinard said. "The conference is loaded with outstanding teams, coaches and players, so it will be a true test to compete for the championship. Seaside is a fun golf course that's always in phenomenal shape and the players will be in for a real treat. It's a fun time of the year and one we always look forward to."
Sophomore Trace Crowe will play in the No. 1 spot for the Tigers. The Bluffton, S.C. native is coming off his first win of the season at the Gary Koch Invitational where he finished at 9-under75-66-66-207. Crowe finished in the top-30 of each event played in the regular season, including four top-15 finishes. He leads the team and ranks seventh in the SEC at 70.96 strokes.
Fellow sophomore Jacob Solomon will be No. 2. The Dublin, Calif., native is averaging 71.92 and has six top-20 finishes this season. He has counted 19-of-21 rounds played while carding 10 sub-par rounds.
Freshman Jovan Rebula holds down the No. 3 spot after an outstanding regular season in his first year on the Plains. The product of George, South Africa, was named SEC Freshman Men's Golfer of the Week twice this season while posting a trio of top-10 finishes. He is averaging an even 72.00 strokes, good for fourth on the team.
A pair of seniors will make their final SEC Championship appearances in the final two spots. Will Long (71.80) will be No. 4 while two-time All-SEC selection Matt Gilchrest (72.23) will play the final spot.
Long finished in the top-10 four times this season, including a third-place finish at the Inverness Intercollegiate where he led Auburn to their first team title of the season. The Gastonia, N.C., native has counted 21-of-24 rounds played while tallying 12 sub-par rounds and eight rounds in the 60s.
Gilchrest, a native of Southlake, Texas, looks to match the success he had in St. Simons Island last season where he paced the Tigers with a third-place finish. The Byron Nelson Award finalist has four top-20 finishes this season.
The 2017 SEC Championship will mark the first time in which the event will extend to a fourth day, with the top eight teams remaining playing in match play on Sunday in the quarterfinal in the morning and the semifinal in the evening. The championship round will be played on Monday.
Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.