The 2007-08 Auburn men's golf team, with six returning lettermen, is off to its best start in 14 seasons with three consecutive top-five finishes followed by a top-10.
Auburn opened the season drenched by heavy showers in a trip to Rocky Face, Ga., for the Carpet Capital Collegiate hosted by Georgia Tech Sept. 14-16. The Tigers (298-287-290--875) finished fourth in a tough field, featuring 12 teams in Golfweek's preseason top-30. Auburn was led by senior Gordon Strother (71-73-73--217), who finished tied for 15th.
"We were in the hunt the entire weekend," said Griffin. "It really helped in giving us something to build on for the rest of the season."
Next for the Tigers was a trip to Birmingham for UAB's Shoal Creek Invitational on Sept. 24-25. After the first two rounds, Auburn (303-282-295--880) was in third place thanks to a brilliant second round team performance of 6-under par.
The Tigers would finish the tournament in third, behind Kizzire (75-68-72--215), who finished 1-under par to tie for fourth, just two shots off the individual lead.
"I'm proud of the way we fought in the Shoal Creek," said Griffin. "Patton had another really great showing."
In two weeks time, Auburn returned to Birmingham for The Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate at Old Overton Golf Club. With four players carding rounds in the 60s, Auburn (284-266-280--830) shot its lowest team round and lowest team 54-hole score in school history and went on to finish fourth.
Moseley (66-67-68--201) placed fifth individually and broke the school record for low 54-hole shot total with his 201. He also holds the Auburn record for lowest 54-hole score in relation to par (-14), a mark he set at the 2006 John Burns Intercollegiate in Wahiawa, Hawaii.
"It's a really great thing," commented Griffin on the record performance put up by the Tigers. "Jay has both of those records in the books. I can't believe we played that well and didn't finish first. It shows how truly tough the field was."The Tigers concluded the fall season on Oct. 12-14 with The Bank of Tennessee at the Ridges Golf Club. Auburn (287-288-286--861) finished eighth with Moseley (70-70-73--213) again leading all Tigers at 3-under to finish tied for 13th.
"All in all, it was a good fall," said Griffin. "We were productive and got better in some important areas."
It has been a group effort from the Tigers with four different players leading in three major statistical categories. Northcutt leads the team in stokes average with 71.56 per round. Moseley leads in most sub-par rounds with 6, while Strother and Kizzire lead in rounds counted with 10.34/12 (.862).
Auburn finished the fall season ranked 12th nationally in the Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches' Poll after a three week stay in the top 10.
The Tigers return to action Feb. 20-22 at The John Burns Intercollegiate in Wahiawa, Hawaii. It will be their 17th appearance in as many years at the event where the Tigers have found success in the past, finishing first in 1996 and second on three occasions.
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