Butler Beats Clanton to Give Auburn Its 1st NCAA Title

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- The NCAA Championships have become more Reality TV than a legitimate test of golf, as was demonstrated once again this year. 

Illinois won the stroke-play portion of the tournament by 16 shots on Monday. In the old days -- the late 1960s until 2009 -- the Illini would have been declared the team champion, Hiroshi Tai of Georgia Tech would have been the individual champion, and that would have been it. Very clean. The Illini were the best team over 72 holes at the difficult Omni La Costa North Course -- and by a wide margin -- so they deserved to win. 

But the format was changed 15 years ago, and now the top eight teams go into match play. From that point on, it's superfluous, but it is entertaining theater, and that seems to be what the Golf Channel, which televises the tournament, wants. Match play is dramatic, and the results are often not what you would expect. That was the way it turned out this year, as Auburn came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Florida State 3-2 and win its first national championship in men's golf. 

Auburn was the No. 1 team in the last Men's NCAA Division I Rankings before the tournament, but the Tigers could do no better than sixth in 72 holes of stroke play at the NCAA -- 25 shots behind Illinois. Nevertheless, they were able to make it through the quarterfinals and semifinal rounds at the Omni Course on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, they came back from a 2-0 deficit and defeat Florida State (No. 5 in the rankings and also the No. 5 seed) to win the national championship. What it ultimately came down to was the last of the individual matches, the one between Auburn's J.M. Butler and FSU's Luke Clanton.

Anyone who knew anything about college golf would have expected the First Team All-American Clanton to win. So, of course, he didn't. Butler won 2&1, and that gave Auburn its victory 

Clanton was the No. 1 player in the NCAA Individual Rankings as of last week, out of the roughly 2,500 players listed, and he tied for second in the stroke-play part of the NCAA tournament, at 286, one stroke behind  the individual champion, Georgia Tech's Hiroshi Tai. Butler, on the other hand, was the X factor, a player with talent, ranked No. 45 in Division I, but erratic. In stroke play at Omni, Butler went 74-77-75-78 and was 74th out of the 156 players in the field. On the other hand, he was an All-American in 2022, and he hadn't trailed in either of Auburn's first two matches this week at the Omni.  

So naturally, the X factor Butler won his match with Clanton. 

By the way, another bogus thing about the NCAA tournament is that in the team matches, the lineups are manipulated. The best players from one team don't necessarily play the best players from the other team. On Wednesday, Clanton was named a First-Team All-American for 2023-24, and so were two players from Auburn -- Jackson Koivun and Brandan Valdes. You'd think that Clanton would have been playing one of them in the NCAA final. Based on the stroke-play results, Clanton should have been playing Koivun, who was also part of that  six-way tie for second at 286.

Instead, he was playing Butler. 

Both players were even par through nine, but Clanton hit an errant drive on 10, and hit his third shot over the green. He lost the hole and fell 1 down. 

Butler lost the 11th hole to Clanton, but he won the long, 244-yard, par-3 12th and was 1 up again. If there was one hole where the NCAA title was decided on Wednesday, it was the 15th at Omni. Clanton laid up off the tee with an iron but missed the fairway (he nearly hit his tee shot into a hazard), and then hit a wedge that bounded over the green and into a water hazard. He was on his way to a double bogey when he conceded the hole to Butler -- and was 2 down with three to play. 

Butler secured the winning point for Auburn at the 17th hole at Omni, which is another of those 490-yards-plus monsters that the college guys make look a lot shorter than they really are. Butler hit a 3-wood off the tee and a 9-iron second shot to about 12 feet. Clanton, needing a birdie, hit driver off the tee and found a fairway bunker. From there, he came up 20 yards short of the green. Needing to hole his chip/pitch shot, Clanton had the pin pulled and hit the cup with his third shot. But it didn't fall, and he conceded.  

It was the first NCAA golf championship for the Tigers. 


NCAA Men's Division I Championships

At Omni La Costa North Course

Par 72, 7,538 yards

Carlsbad, Calif. 

Final

No. 6 Auburn def. No. 5 Florida State 3-2

C. Bacha, FSU def. C. Anderson, A, 1 up

T. Weaver, FSU def. J. Gilbert, A, 2&1

J. Koivun, A, def. B. Roberts, FSU, 5&4

B. Valdes, A, def. F. Kjettrup, FSU, 4&3

J. Butler, A, def. L. Clanton, FSU, 2&1

Earlier match-play rounds 

Semifinals 

No. 5 Florida State def. No. 8 Georgia Tech 3-2

No. 6 Auburn def. No. 7 Ohio State 3-2

Quarterfinals

No. 8 Georgia Tech def. No. 1 Illinois 3-1 (1 match unfinished)

No. 5 Florida State def. No. 4 North Carolina 3-1 (1 match unfinished)

No. 7 Ohio State  def. No. 2. Vanderbilt 3-1-1

No. 6 Auburn def. No. 3 Virginia 3-1 (1 match unfinished)

Stroke-play qualifying

Final stroke-play results (the top 8 teams advanced to the match-play portion)

1. Illinois                      293-287-282-284--1146

2. Vanderbilt                297-286-290-289--1162

T3. Virginia                  290-287-291-295--1163

T3. North Carolina       291-296-292-284--1163

5. Florida State            299-289-286-290--1164 

6. Auburn                     293-293-293-292--1171

7. Ohio State               294-294-289-297--1174

8. Georgia Tech          292-301-292-292--1177

9. Oklahoma               301-302-286-289--1178

10. Tennessee            305-292-294-289--1180

11. Florida                   295-302-287-297--1181

12. E. Tennessee S.   296-297-298-291--1182

13. Texas                     296-301-292-296--1183

14. Baylor                    297-299-292-301--1189

15. Arizona                 290-298-298-308--1193

Did not make the 54-hole cut

T23. Notre Dame       296-305-306--907

27. New Mexico         299-306-307--912   


Individuals (*-indicates players who made the cut as individuals)

1. Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech            67-77-70-71--285 (-3)

T2. Tyler Goecke, Illinois                 73-73-69-71--286

T2. Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt       75-69-70-72--286

T2. Max Herendeen, Illinois            73-70-71-72--286

T2. Ben James, Virginia                  73-71-69-73--286

T2. Jackson Koivun, Auburn           71-72-72-71--286

T2. Luke Clanton, Florida State       71-72-72-71--286

T8. Adam Wallin, Ohio State            68-74-69-76--287

T8. Karl Vilips, Stanford                   69-68-76-74--287*

T8. Palmer Jackson, Notre Dame   77-68-72-70--287
        
T25. Ben Warian, Minnesota         72-72--72-76--292*

Missed the 54-hole cut -- 220

T136. Nate Stevens, Notre Dame    78-82-77--237

T141. Carson Herron, N. Mexico     86-75-79--240