No. 9 Auburn Golf Team Defeats Five Top-20 Teams To Win Carpet Capital

[augolf1716 21,170]

They did this without Blayne Barber who was playing in the 2011 Walker Cup at Scotland's Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.

Great job by the Good guys........

DALTON, Ga. - The ninth-ranked Auburn men's golf team (282-851) defeated five top-20 teams, including No. 3 Alabama (287-862) and No. 4 Georgia Tech (274-857), en route to a season opening win at the Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm Golf Club in Dalton, Ga.

The Tigers shot a combined 13-under for the weekend, led by senior Will McCurdy (71-213) and junior Dominic Bozzelli (69-213) tied for eighth at 3-under par.

Tennessee (282-856) placed second at 8-under, followed by tournament host Georgia Tech who fired a 14-under final round.

"It was an exciting weekend," said Auburn assistant coach Evan Osteen. "We played solid all tournament and especially down the stretch when it counted the most. A couple of teams made some runs at us today. Georgia Tech made a strong final round push. We just stuck to our game plan and played absolutely beautiful down the stretch."

The win was the sixth team win since head coach Nick Clinard arrived on The Plains prior to the 2009-10 season and the 56th in school history. It was also the first opening season win for Auburn since the Tigers started off the 1977 and '78 seasons with titles at the Furman Invitational and Alabama Intercollegiate, respectively.

"It was a total team effort," said Osteen. "Everyone played their part and nobody was backing down. It was a fun to be a part of."

The Tigers carried a five-stroke lead into Sunday after a 9-under second round propelled them to the top of the leaderboard. The round was a strong response after a 2-over opening round saw the Tigers in fifth, four strokes behind then-leader Georgia Tech.

Auburn closed out Sunday with four players shooting par or better, led by Bozzelli and true freshman Michael Johnson who dropped a 69 and 70, respectively.

"All of us hit, tee-to-green, great all week," said Bozzelli. "With this course, you have to miss in the right spot. You can make bogeys quick, but you can only control what you do as a team. You can't play defense in golf."

McCurdy got things started with an opening round 70 and was in the top 10 all weekend. The Fort Payne, Ala., native was 1-under through 12 on Sunday before a double-bogey on the par-3 13th dropped him back to 1-over.

"We saved a least three shots every day," said McCurdy on team scoring. "We hit so many greens this week. It seemed like we hit it right where we were looking every time. It's a tricky course. Our team is good enough to come to a course like this and make those nerve-racking shots."

McCurdy would close his final round with birdies on 15 and 16, returning to 1-under on the day and maintaining his top-10 spot on the leaderboard.

Sophomore Niclas Carlsson (75-216) tied for 17th at even par after leading the field in pars with 40. The 2011 Swedish amateur team member led the Tigers on day two at The Farm, firing a pair of back nine birdies en route to a 5-under 67, the Tigers' low individual round for the competition.

Johnson (70-217), a true freshman, shook off any rookie jitters closing with back-to-back rounds of 70. The Birmingham, Ala., native finished the Carpet Capital tied for 19th at 1-over.

Junior Michael Hebert (72-222) carded two of his three rounds at even par, coming home with 39 pars and a tie for 33rd.

Alabama (287-862) placed fourth followed by No. 16 Clemson (289-863), Chattanooga (290-864), No. 15 Georgia (290-872), No. 17 LSU (288-873), Kennesaw State (290-879), Wake Forest (298-887), South Carolina (300-890) and Middle Tennessee State (295-890).

The Tigers return to action this Friday at the Olympia Fields Invitational in Chicago.