Nick Clinard didn’t hold back when asked about what his team’s expectations are heading into the NCAA Championships in Carlsbad, Calif., this week. The Auburn head men’s golf coach was as simple as you can be.
“For us and our standards, it’s win or bust,” Clinard said.
That should be the case for a program that has been at the top of college golf for almost three years now, winning the national title in 2024 while entering the last three NCAA Tournaments as the No. 1 overall seed. But the Tigers looked unworthy of that status following their NCAA Regional performance, struggling to a third-place finish and needing a clutch back nine on the final day at the University of Georgia Golf Course to even make it back to the championships.
Auburn has only one goal: winning the national title
But now here, the goal is to bring back the trophy to the Plains for the second time in three seasons.
“We take a lot of pride in carrying the No. 1 seed into this place for the third year in a row,” Clinard said. “We’re proud to represent Auburn at such a high level, but we know that nothing out here is given. We’ve got to really focus and play smart, Auburn golf if we want to lift a trophy when it’s all said and done.”
What will help the top-ranked Tigers is the familiarity three players – Jackson Koivun, Josiah Gilbert and Cayden Pope – have with the course in Carlsbad. All three played there in last year’s championships, while Koivun and Gilbert were part of the five golfers that helped Auburn win the title in 2024. But for Clinard, it is more than just knowing the course.
“It just helps knowing where you’re going to stay, where the locker room is, where’s the range, where’s breakfast, where’s lunch and all that stuff as far as being comfortable matters,” he said. “We’re definitely obviously looking forward to getting there and seeing it and being ready to go come Friday.”
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