Mens golf prepping for NCAA Championships

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No 1 Auburn mens golf prepping for NCAA Championships

Jason Caldwell

3–4 minutes

The hottest team in the country and ranked No. 1 heading into the NCAA Tournament, the Auburn men's golf team knows that despite all its accomplishments, the job isn't finished. That begins on Friday when coach Nick Clinard's team begins play at the NCAA Championships at Omni LaCosta Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.

With nine team wins as a team, including six in a row, the Tigers come into the week with plenty of confidence. That's something that Clinard said is an important thing as Auburn gets ready for the biggest week of the season.

"I always tell my team that the number one predictor of success in life or golf or no matter what you do, is self-confidence," Clinard said. "It's number one. We always talk about self-believe and being focused and playing like athletes with freedom. Those are the three things we try to accomplish every week we're out. We'll try to do the same thing this week."

Lead by Ben Hogan Award winner Jackson Koivun, Auburn's lineup is one of the most talented in the country with Brendan Valdes also ranked in the Top 10 in the country. Koivun leads the nation with seven top three finishes this season while Valdes has five to his credit. Rounding out the playing rotation for Auburn this week are JM Butler, Carson Bacha and talented freshman Josiah Gilbert. Playing in just three events, Gilbert has a win in match play over Vanderbilt's Gordon Sargent, another Top 10 player in the country. Sargent was a finalist for the Hogan Award that went to Koivun.

Playing golf in California this week to get used to the different grasses, the weather and how that impacts their play, Auburn will get a practice round on the course on Thursday before the tournament gets underway on Friday. Clinard said the preparation is important this time around because he wants his guys to just turn it loose and go play.

"We just have to play like athletes," Clinard said. "We have a good learning process for that golf course that we have to figure out. Nobody has seen it, so I think it's an even playing field. Our challenge is to make sure that one practice round that we get, we have a really good feel for how the ball is reacting and bouncing and spinning and rolling out."

Auburn is paired with second-ranked Vanderbilt and No. 4 North Carolina in the first round on Friday. The field will be cut to the top 15 teams after 54 holes with a cut to the top 8 coming after 72 holes. The top 8 teams will advance to match play.

The field for the NCAA Men's Golf Championships:

#1 Auburn

#2 Vanderbilt

#4 North Carolina

#5 Tennessee

#6 Florida State

#11 Texas

#12 Arizona

#13 Virginia

#14 Florida

#15 Texas Tech

#16 Oklahoma 

#17 Georgia Tech

#18 Illinois

#20 Texas A&M

#21 East Tennessee State

#22 California

#23 New Mexico

Baylor

Clemson

LSU

Notre Dame

North Florida

Ohio State

Oklahoma State

Purdue

SMU

Stanford

Utah

Wake Forest

West Virginia