Auburn wins second NCAA golf title in 3 years, beating UCLA

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Jackson Koivun and the top-seeded Auburn Tigers won their second NCAA golf title in three years, beating seventh-seeded UCLA, 4-1, on Wednesday at breezy La Costa Resort.

A freshman in 2024 when Auburn edged Florida State at La Costa for its first championship, Koivun beat Baylor Larrabee, 4 and 3, in the third of the five matches in possibly his final college event.

A few minutes later, Logan Reilly gave Auburn the decisive third point, outlasting Alex Papayoanou, 1 up, with a par on the par-5 18th in the lead group.

Freshman Jake Albert put the first point on the board for Auburn, beating Tyler Loree, 5 and 3, in the second match.

The final two matches stopped on the 15th hole when Reilly wrapped up the victory. Josh Kim of UCLA led Josiah Gilbert, 3 up, and Auburn’s Cayden Pope had a 4-up edge over Kyle An.

Koivun has yet to make an announcement about turning professional. The top-ranked amateur in the world, he has a PGA Tour spot waiting after securing a card through the PGA Tour University Accelerated program.

The team title capped a season where he won won six of 10 starts and took his second Fred Haskins Award as the player of the year. The three-time first-team All-America selection has 11 career victories — winning three Southeastern Conference titles.

“I just challenged them last night to enjoy the walk and told them that you might not ever be back here again in a team sport,” Auburn head coach Nick Clinard told Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine as the championship celebration continued on the 18th green.

“Winning is hard,” he added. “We’re going to enjoy this.”

UCLA missed a chance for its third title and first in match play. It won in 1988 and 2008.

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