CARLSBAD, Calif. – Preston Stout wanted to hit a shot, so he ducked into the bunker on the back left of the par-5 18th hole at La Costa, took a stance, and hit the hole about 7 feet out. Stout would have gone for birdie, and with opponent Jackson Koivan facing a near-impossible 25-yard chip — downhill in the rough, over a cart path and a bunker, and away from him to the green — Stout probably could have two-putted and sent the match into extras.
But unfortunately, none of that mattered.
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A few hundred yards away on the 16th green, Stout’s teammate, Phillip Fahlberg-Johnson, missed a birdie roll and set up an overtime tie with anchor match-up Caden Pope, but the winning goal clinched Auburn, the national champion two seasons ago, a spot in the NCAA finals for the second time in three years.
It was one of the biggest matchups this championship has ever had. Koibun, the top-ranked amateur in the world who has twice swept the national player of the year award and earned a PGA Tour card for a year, and Stout, a fellow junior who won the NCAA individual title on Monday and would have won the big prize in any other year with a five-win season. There were echoes of 14 years ago when Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas faced off at Riviera in the 2012 NCAA Championship Finals. That week, Texas coach John Fields and Alabama coach John Fields made a gentleman’s agreement to pit the two star freshmen against each other, and on the morning of the game, Thomas was named the Nicklaus Trophy winner, which inspired Spieth to hole out for eagle on the 15th hole to earn the points and help the Longhorns win the title.
“Jordan had to have the intangibles,” said Vanderbilt coach Scott Limbaugh, then an assistant at Alabama. “That’s the only player Jordan could have played in a situation where he was on the back foot. That’s very important. Anyone who thinks it can’t be done didn’t do it.”
In this case, Stout, the No. 3 ranked amateur in the world, was suffering from a shoulder injury from losing the Haskins Trophy to Koibun earlier in the day. But at least in Koibun’s mind, he too thought he had something to prove by losing his quarterfinal match, losing by seven strokes to Stout in stroke play.
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“It was refreshing in a way to go into the game feeling like an underdog,” Koibun said.
NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship
Neither coach shied away from the heavyweight bout. Auburn’s Nick Clinard dumped Koibun first in that second game, hoping Bratton would fight back with a big horse. Of course, Bratton wasted no time.
“We wanted to build strength,” Bratton said.
Clinard added: “It’s exactly what we wanted. It’s exactly what television wanted. It’s exactly what everyone wanted.”
Florida State coach Trey Jones, who serves on the NCAA golf committee, perhaps best described this strategy when he compared it to college baseball. “If you don’t throw your Friday starter against your Friday starter, you’re telling the other guy you don’t think he’s that good.”
It used to be that you could cut the nerves with a knife on the first tee while the starters introduced each player with a long list of accomplishments. The two were teammates in last summer’s Walker Cup, but this time they were tasked with easily passing through the afternoon’s toughest points.
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Stout conceded a few holes early on, three-putting for bogey on the par-5 second, and missing a short par save on the par-4 fourth when his approach hit a shuttle parked on the cart path to the left of the green. A lucky bounce kept Stout’s ball from going wide. Koibun birdied the par-3 third from 10 feet and led by three after four holes. But even after Koibun hit an outrageous second shot from a cross bunker on the par-4 ninth, Stout was the only one to make a birdie on that hole, clawing his way back to 1 down on the turn. The pair tied for just two holes in the front nine.
“Two special players, two guys who are going to win on the PGA Tour,” said Clinard, who walked Everhole with Bratton. “I had a front row seat so I was honestly just enjoying the walk.”
It wasn’t the best golf. Each player made four birdies and finished a combined 3 under. However, there were some good opportunities as Koibun chipped in on the par-3 12th hole for a birdie and restored the advantage to two. Koibun’s putter, his greatest weapon, has let him down several times, such as making bogey on the 15th hole and missing a birdie chance on the 17th hole to end the match.
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Stout certainly had the momentum when he was ejected from the golf course, but Koibun was officially awarded a 1-up victory. It was one of five points in Auburn’s sweep of the defending champions in the semifinals. The Auburn junior, who has not yet made a decision on whether to activate his PGA Tour membership this summer or return to school for his senior year, was waiting to get a crack at the chip like Stout, but Auburn assistant Chris Williams flicked the ball out of the rough before Koibun could try it.
“I knew it was going to be a fun and intense match,” Koibun said. “I just wanted to see how it all played out.”
That’s what everyone else wanted too.
