CARLSBAD, Calif. – For the fourth consecutive season, Auburn men’s golf will play the Monday round at the NCAA Championship as the top-ranked Tigers hold the lead at the Omni La Costa Champions Course following an excellent 2-under showing on Sunday.
Auburn was one of just two teams to break par the third round, joining No. 24 Texas Tech. Monday saw the highest course average of the tournament thus far at 74.80. Thanks to the gritty performance, the Tigers increased their cumulative score to 10-under-par.
Made a statement pic.twitter.com/K9M9SCcJLe
— Auburn Men's Golf (@AuburnMGolf) May 26, 2025
“We came into this week and really challenged the guys to compete in stroke play,” head coach Nick Clinard said. “We want to win stroke play because that maybe identifies the best team in the county. It’s a tough course, tough conditions, but so far, we’ve played pretty well. We’re just blessed to have the opportunity to go out and compete tomorrow and see what we can do.”
For the Monday round, Auburn will continue to play in threesomes with No. 5 Arizona State and No. 6 Oklahoma. The groups will go off the first tee in 11-minute intervals starting at 2:20 p.m. CT. Golf Channel begins its live coverage at 5 p.m. CT.
On Sunday, the Tigers found their best performance from senior Carson Bacha. He shaved four shots off his previous round to fire a 69 (-3). Birdies on 9 and an extremely difficult par-5 sixth saw the York, Pennsylvania native make the turn at 35 (-1).
“I was able to get into a nice rhythm from the first tee and maintain solid golf all day long,” Bacha said. “I knew the course was playing tough, so I just stuck to my gameplan, hit some better golf shots, and took advantage when I had the chance to.
“I had some memories from last year of making some birdies on the last few holes, so fortunately, I hit some solid shots coming in and was able to finish strong and make two birdies on my last two holes.”
On the back, Bacha birdied 11, bogeyed 14, then finished birdie-birdie on 17 and 18 for 34 (-2) and a 69 (-3) overall. It was his first sub-70 round at the NCAA Championship since the opening round of the 2023 tournament, when he shot 68 (-2). He now sits at 1-over heading into Monday.
Cumulatively, the All-American duo of Brendan Valdes and Jackson Koivun lead the lineup through 54 holes. Valdes carded an even-par 72 with birdies on 1, 4, 6, 10 and 16 to remain in good standing at 5-under. He’ll take tied for fourth place into the final round of stroke play. Koivun shot 71 (-1) to gain a shot on Valdes. He holds at tied for seventh place and 4-under. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina product started and finished well, beginning the morning with three birdies through four holes. He ended with four pars and one birdie over his final five.
Ole Miss’ Michael La Sasso leads the race for low medalist at 11-under. The NCAA Individual Champion will be crowned following Monday’s completion of 72 holes.
Sophomores Josiah Gilbert and Cayden Pope each carded respectable rounds of 74 (+2) Sunday. The pair is 4-over through their respective 54 holes.
In addition to Auburn, teams advancing to the fourth round are No. 5 Arizona State (-6), No. 6 Oklahoma (-3), No. 7 Florida (-1), No. 2 Oklahoma State (+5), No. 4 Texas (+5), No. 9 Florida State (+9), No. 24 Texas Tech (+12), No. 3 Ole Miss (+12), No. 11 Texas A&M (+12), No. 10 Virginia (+13), No. 19 BYU (+14), No. 21 Pepperdine (+15) and No. 16 Vanderbilt (+15).
Georgia Tech and Wake Forest stand tied for 15th place at 17-over. They will compete in a sudden-death playoff Monday morning for the final spot.
Outside the +17 cutline and not advancing are California, No. 12 Illinois, No. 20 South Carolina, No. 14 UCLA, No. 23 Tennessee, No. 22 Georgia, UNLV, Colorado, USF, New Mexico, Purdue, Augusta, Troy and San Diego.
Following Monday’s fourth and final stroke play showing, the field will once again be cut in half as the top eight teams will progress to match play. The quarterfinal and semifinal matches are set for Tuesday, May 27 with the final match following on Wednesday, May 28.