No. 2 men’s golf heads to Honors Course for fall season kickoff – Auburn Tigers
AUBURN, Ala. – No. 2 Auburn men’s golf will kick off the 2025-26 season in Ooltewah, Tennessee, competing in the Invitational at The Honors Course Sept. 15-16.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to be back at it, kicking off another college golf season,” 17th-year head coach Nick Clinard said. “We’ve got some familiar faces back in the lineup but also a handful of new guys that are going to be really exciting players to watch. They’ve all been working very hard in the offseason, and this is our first chance to turn them loose and let them compete with some really great programs at a great venue.”
Standing between the No. 2 Tigers and another addition to the trophy case this week are No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Virginia, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 19 Pepperdine, RV Clemson, RV Duke, College of Charleston, Marquette and host Chattanooga.
For Monday’s 36 holes of action, Auburn will play with Marquette and College of Charleston, teeing off on the back nine first. Freshman Logan Reilly leads things off at 6:40 a.m. CT.
Auburn’s starting five for the tournament are juniors Josiah Gilbert and Cayden Pope, sophomore Billy Davis and freshmen Jake Albert and Reilly. It’s the first time the Tigers have started multiple true freshmen in the season opener since 2017, when Brandon Mancheno and Wells Padgett debuted at the Carpet Capital Collegiate.
Fellow rookie Jack Roberts will make his first collegiate appearance as an individual player. Two-time First Team All-American Jackson Koivun is absent from the lineup this week as he competes on the West Coast in the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship.
Between Gilbert, Pope and Davis, the Tigers return 96 rounds from a season ago. Of the three, Gilbert posted the best stroke average at 70.45 per round. He also added one win, five top five finishes and 26 rounds at par or better en route to earning Second Team All-America status.
Pope and Davis combined for seven top 10s and 34 rounds at par or better. Pope averaged 70.61 strokes per round while Davis averaged 71.11 as a freshman.
With the departures of All-Americans Carson Bacha and Brendan Valdes, Auburn will often look to its trio of rookies for production this season. All three freshmen were tabbed top 30 recruits, led by Reilly, who was named the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class by the American Junior Golf Association.
Live scoring for the 2025 Invitational at the Honors Course can be found at scoreboard.clippd.com.
