There are a surprising number of similarities between the Auburn Men’s Golf Team and Stanford Women’s Golf Team’s recent history at the NCAA Championships. Will the Tigers be able to follow the Cardinal’s footsteps and secure a second national title this year?
Let’s journey back to 2024. While the teams had different seeds going into match play (Stanford at #1 and Auburn at #6), both teams had standout freshmen leading the way: Paula Martin Sampedro and Jackson Koivun. Martin Sampedro finished in 3rd at 6-under and Koivun finished T2 at 2-under. As they moved on in match play, both Stanford and Auburn won their national title 3-2 in the final match. Stanford defeated UCLA and Auburn overcame Florida State.
In 2025, both Stanford and Auburn lost in match play, the women in the Finals and the men in the Quarterfinals.
2026 is where it all comes together. Both teams were hungry for a win after the disappointment the previous year. Both teams came out swinging in stroke play, dominating the leaderboards by the second round. They both won the stroke play portion of the championships – Stanford at 22-under and Auburn at 26-under – though the leads over the next team were quite different. Individually, Megha Ganne of Stanford placed second and Josiah Gilbert of Auburn placed third, giving them top 3 finishes.
Though match play is still in progress for Auburn, both teams came in at the #1 seed and advanced to Finals. Stanford had almost a perfect record, going 5-0 in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals before going 4-1 for the National Championship title. Auburn had their own clean sweep against defending champions Oklahoma State in the Semifinals.
Will the Auburn men follow in the Stanford women’s footsteps and win their match today against UCLA, the men’s version of the team Stanford beat in 2024 for their first National Championship at Omni La Costa? Will Gilbert sink the winning putt like Ganne did for Stanford? Time will tell.
