NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!: Auburn men’s golf defeats UCLA in match play final, wins second title in three seasons

The Tigers have done it. Here's a look at Auburn's championship season — and the players bringing a national title back to the Plains.

The Auburn men’s golf team celebrates after Cayden Pope, center facing away, clinched the team’s win over Oklahoma State in the NCAA Championship match play semifinals on Tuesday at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif. (Zach Bland/AU Athletics)

Auburn has done it.

Logan Reilly sank the winning putt, his teammates stormed onto the green to embrace him, and the Tigers capped their incredible season with a national championship on Wednesday in Carlsbad, Calif., topping UCLA in the NCAA Championship match play final.

They’re bringing another title from Carlsbad back to the Plains.

Auburn was No. 1 for much of the season, a proud contending team led by the world’s No. 1 amateur Jackson Koivun and key returners from a 2024 national championship squad. Auburn capitalized on its potential with a tremendous tournament at the NCAA Championship, winning the stroke play portion to take the top seed into match play, then beating a storied program in Stanford in the quarterfinals then a perennial power in Oklahoma State in semifinals before the final against UCLA.

The win continues the greatest run in program history. Auburn men’s golf has won two national championships in its history, each in the last three years.

“In 2024, it was one of the best feelings I ever had in my life, and from then on, I’ve just been trying to chase that feeling,” Koivun said in an interview recorded before the final and aired on the Golf Channel’s broadcast. “And to celebrate that with some of the guys here, it would be incredible.”

Auburn won four tournaments this season, and finished second in five others. Auburn moved up to No. 1 in the national rankings after winning The Hayt over a stacked field on March 9, and held that spot since.

Auburn vs. UCLA results (Auburn golfer listed first)

• Logan Reilly defeats Alex Papayoanou 1UP

• Jake Albert defeats Tyler Loree 5&3

• Jackson Koivun defeats Baylor Larrabee 5&3

• Josiah Gilbert trailed Josh Kim 3UP, unfinished

• Cayden Pope led Kyle An 4UP, unfinished

It wasn’t all smooth cruising, though: Auburn lost in the semifinals in match play at the SEC Championship, and at regionals had to battle to become the third of five advancing teams.

But they brought their best to Carlsbad, and now, the Tigers have etched their names into history.

Those names are:

• Jackson Koivun: Auburn’s ace, an all-timer, and the world’s No. 1 amateur with the sky as the limit ahead of him. Koivun, despite having slam-dunk pro potential, returned this year for a third season at Auburn — which he calls “the greatest school in the world.” He says he’ll always call Auburn home, and he loves it, and in his career he’s rolled up the wins for the AU on his polo: He won the Ben Hogan Award twice and the Fred Haskins Award twice, becoming the first player to win multiples of both in the history of the sport. He’s been a first-team All-American in all three of his seasons. Most importantly, he has now helped bring Auburn two national championships.

• Josiah Gilbert: Another junior, and a local Alabama product from Millbrook, he was one of the two freshmen alongside Koivun who started for Auburn at the NCAA Championship in 2024 when the Tigers won the title. Then, Gilbert lost his matchups in the semifinals and finals, though his teammates were able to cover for him and win as a team. This time around, though, Gilbert was a leading man: He won 3&2 against Stanford in the quarterfinals and won 4&3 against Oklahoma State in the semifinals. Now he and his classmates leave as the most decorated golfers in school history.

• Cayden Pope: Also a junior, Pope was a bench player for the Tigers during the 2024 championship run. With some patience, after biding his time, Pope has come into his own since and pushed his way into the lineup in time for the postseason last year. This year, he’s been a starter all year for the Tigers and a co-captain and, this time around, this national championship has his fingerprints all over it.

• Logan Reilly: In the same way those juniors, when they were freshmen, helped give Auburn the boon of talent it needed to get over the edge and win a championship in 2024, Reilly has come in a freshman this season and helped the Tigers capture the title in 2026. The coaches, staff and returning players put their faith and confidence in the new freshmen, and they’ve been rewarded with a title.

• Jake Albert: Auburn’s other freshman starter, Albert doesn’t have the longest drive in the lineup, or the most experience, but he’s been lauded by coaches and teammates for being a fighter. In the Athens Regional, which was a battle for the Tigers to get out of, Albert shot a team-worst 3-over in the first round — but bounced right back to shoot a team-best 3-under in the second round, and Auburn ultimately survived the regional and advanced to the NCAA Championship. That resiliency encompassed what Albert showed for the Tigers this season, winning SEC Freshman of the Year — and they needed it on the way to the national title.

• Billy Davis: Auburn’s sixth man on the travel roster, Davis served as a capable hand prepared to substitute in at any time.

Auburn this season was led by head coach Nick Clinard, in his 17th year as Tigers head coach, and now one of the most successful coaches in Auburn history across all sports with two national championships to his tenure.