A No. 5 seed coming into match play, Auburn advanced to the national championship match with a dramatic 3-2 win over No. 7 seed Ohio State, as Jackson Koivun, the 2024 Fred Haskins Award winner, defeated Adam Wallin on the 21st hole, with the freshman phenom sinking a five-foot putt on No. 18 to birdie the hole.

“I had a putt like that in regulation and I knew it had a little more break,” said Koivun. “The pressure, the nerves definitely got to me a little bit. I don’t think I could have prepared myself for that. Playing for your friends, your teammates, your coaches, your entire university, it wears on you. For my match, I struggled at the start and he (Wallin) obviously played really well. I made a lot of pars down the stretch, and he fired two birdies at me to end regulation and force extra holes.”

Playing for your friends, your teammates, your coaches, your entire university, it wears on you - Jackson Koivun, Auburn University

Florida State, the No. 5 seed, also won it’s semifinal match 3-2 over the No. 8 seed Georgia Tech. Key to the victory was a 19-hole win by freshman Tyler Weaver over Georgia Tech’s Kale Fontenot, who bogeyed the first playoff hole, rimming out a five-foot putt on hole No. 1. Also scoring wins for the Seminoles were Luke Clanton over Christo Lamprecht, 2&1, and Frederik Kjettrup over the 2024 NCAA individual champion, Hiroshi Tai, 3&1.

“When you play two ACC teams you know really well and respect, you know what you’re in for,” said Florida State head coach Trey Jones. “We struggled with the North Carolina team but we played well against them (previously). We just hadn’t gotten over the hump, so that was a whole challenge we knew we were going to have. And Georgia Tech has been the most dominant team in our league for 15 to 20 years. So outside of a national championship, we were very familiar with everybody we were playing this week.”

You never know what is going to happen in golf, and you have to be prepared for it. - Trey Jones, Head Coach Florida State

Florida State, which improved all-time to 4-3 in NCAA Championship match play, will be making its first national championship match appearance.

“You just have to regroup, after each hole and after each match, you have to regroup,” said Jones. “You never know what is going to happen in golf, and you have to be prepared for it. We tell our guys ‘we never had it won and we are never out of it’ and as long as they have that mentality and play till the end, then we will do pretty well.”

Auburn, which improved to 3-1 all-time in NCAA Championship match play, has never advanced beyond semifinal play previously.

“He’s the one I want in that final match, that’s for sure” said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard after Koivun’s clinching extra hole win. “But man is it stressful for the coach watching that. He played some great golf today. Hats off to Adam Wallin. What a great player he is and he played fantastic too. We were lucky enough to come out on top on that last hole, when Jackson made the birdie.”

Auburn trailed Ohio State in four matches at one point before coming from behind for the win. In addition to Koivun’s match decider, Brendan Valdes defeated Jackson Chandler, 1 Up, and J.M. Butler scored a 2&1 win over Ohio State’s Neal Shipley.

“Jackson (Koivun) and I were walking up the 6th fairway and were like ‘there’s a lot of red on that board and we don’t like red,’” said Clinard. “But you know we just hung in there. Stay in the fight and you never know what’s going to happen, especially in match play. We’ve had a great year but it’s unfinished. The job’s not finished. We are going up against a great Florida State team coached by Trey Jones. It’s going to be an all-out battle tomorrow.”

It looked good for a while, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that sometimes it’s really hard to get the third point - Bruce Heppler, Head Coach Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech hoped to receive a momentum boost when senior standout Lamprecht returned to the lineup for the national semi-final match with Auburn after missing the final three rounds of stroke play and the quarterfinal match with Illinois with a back injury. The 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year started strong before coming up short, 2&1 to Clanton.

“It looked good for a while, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that sometimes it’s really hard to get the third point,” said Georgia Tech head coach Bruce Heppler. “They were a final four team last year and signed the ACC Freshman of the Year. Sometimes it’s not fun to play against your friends, and Trey Jones is a dear friend of mine. They earned it and they took out an incredible team (North Carolina) this morning. From that standpoint, we’ll be rooting for the conference tomorrow.”

“Well, it’s Christo Lamprecht, I mean he’s the best (amateur) player in the world right now and an unbelievable person as well,” said Clanton. “I wasn’t too surprised, I saw him hitting balls on the range, so I kind of knew it was going to be him. To get out and play with the best and come away with the win was awesome. The job’s not finished. We’ve still got a little bit to go and we are excited.”

The day started with all four of the lower seeded teams winning their quarterfinal matches for the first time in championship history, with team match play taking place from 2009 to present.

Illinois, after earning the No. 1 seed position with a 16-stroke advantage over 72 holes of stroke play, was unable to sustain the momentum in its morning quarterfinal match, as Georgia Tech rolled to a 3-1 win over the Illini. The Yellow Jackets received wins from senior Bartley Forrester over Tyler Goecke, 3&1, sophomore Aidan Tran over Piercen Hunt, 3&2, and Tai over Ryan Voois, 3&2.

In match play, you can’t fake it, there is nowhere to hide. - Mike Small, Head Coach Illinois

“For whatever reason we lost our way and started guiding it and started worrying about things,” said Illinois head coach Mike Small. “Got to hit the shots when the time calls for it. You need some help. You need the ball to bounce the right way. We have been to nine of these and haven’t won it yet. The best team in college golf, Oklahoma State’s been to nine of them and only won one, on their home course. It’s hard. Florida makes their first one and goes on to win. There is no rhyme or reason to it. You got to play from strength and control your space and play really good golf. In match play, you can’t fake it, there is nowhere to hide.”

No. 2 seed Vanderbilt fell to No. 7 Ohio State, 3-1. Fifth-year senior Jackson Chandler, playing in the No. 1 position for the Buckeyes, scored a 3&2 win over Jackson Van Paris of Vanderbilt to get things started. The Buckeyes also received a 4&2 win from Shipley over Matthew Riedel and a 19 hole win by Wallin over Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt that decided the match. Redshirt freshman Tyler Sabo had the shot of the match, acing the 110-yard 8th hole in his match against Vanderbilt’s William Moll. Sabo hit a 60-degree lob wedge.

No. 6 Auburn rolled to a 3-1 win over No. 3 Virginia as redshirt junior Carson Bacha defeated Josh Duangmanee of Virginia, 2&1, freshman Josiah Gilbert scored a 2&1 win over Bryan Lee and Koivun defeated Deven Patel of Virginia), 1 Up.

No. 5 seed Florida State posted a 3-1 victory over No. 4 seed North Carolina. The Seminoles received victories from Brett Roberts (2&1), Clanton (2&1) and Weaver (3&2).
The national championship match of the 2024 championship will tee-off at 2:25 p.m. PT at La Costa and will be broadcast live on Golf Channel and Peacock from 3 to 7 p.m. PST.

Photos courtesy of C. Morgan Engel (NCAA Photos)