Gamecocks Fall to No. 1 Auburn in Extra Holes at SEC Championship

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – South Carolina battled with top-ranked Auburn down to the wire  on Saturday morning at Sea Island Golf Club in the quarterfinals of match play at the SEC Championship, but the Tigers prevailed 3.5-1.5 in extra holes to advance to the semifinals later this afternoon.

Auburn put the first two points on the board as junior Brock Blais fell 4&3 and freshman Talan Harrison lost 3&2. Blais was even par and the Tigers’ Cayden Pope was 4-under with six birdies. Harrison was 1-over while his opponent, Josiah Gilbert, was 3-under and bogey free thru 16 holes.

Redshirt senior All-American Frankie Harris closed out his match in a 4&3 win over Jake Albert after making birdie at the par-5 15^th hole. Harris was 4-under on the day with just one bogey on his scorecard.

The match came down to sophomore Marek Fleming and senior Zach Adams. Fleming knocked an eagle attempt close to make birdie on hole 15 and pull within one with three holes to go. He holed out for birdie from behind the green to force extra holes in dramatic fashion at the difficult par-4 18^th hole. He then made a great up-and-down on the first playoff hole at the par-4 first, but Logan Reilly rolled in a birdie putt to clinch the third and decisive point. Fleming was 1-under on the day.

Adams battled the No. 1 amateur in the world, Jackson Koivun, from start to finish. Their match would end in a tie on the first extra hole as Reilly made his birdie up ahead on the green. Adams got 2-down early but tied the match at the turn with an eagle at the par-5 seventh hole followed by a birdie on the par-4 eighth hole. Koivun regained the lead with birdie at hole 11 but Adams answered again with a birdie at hole 13 to tie things up. Both players had eagle looks at the par-5 15^th hole. Adams just missed a 12-footer and Koivun kept the match all square with a clutch 5-footer for birdie. Both players just missed birdie opportunities on hole 18 before heading to extras. Adams was 3-under on the day and Koivun was 6-under and bogey free in his round. Koivun won his third-straight SEC Individual Championship on Friday, his sixth win in eight starts this spring.

The Gamecocks made history this week in stroke play under second-year head coach Rob Bradley firing the low 54-hole (828, -12) and 18-hole team (272, -8) scores in 24 all-time trips to Sea Island for the SEC Championship. Today was the program’s fourth all-time match play appearance since the format change in 2017 and the first since 2021.

Bradley helped lead the Gamecocks back to the NCAA Championship last season for the first time since 2019. Carolina will find out its NCAA Regional site when the selection show airs live on the Golf Channel at 2 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, May 6.

2026 SEC Championship Match Play Quarterfinals
1. Cayden Pope (AUB) def. Brock Blais (SC), 4&3
2. Josiah Gilbert (AUB) def. Talan Harrison (SC), 3&2
3. Logan Reilly (AUB) def. Marek Fleming (SC), 1-up in 19 holes
4. Zach Adams (SC) vs. Jackson Koivun (AUB), AS thru 18 holes
5. Frankie Harris (SC) def. Jake Albert (AUB), 4&3
No. 1 Auburn def. South Carolina, 3.5-1.5

2026 SEC Championship Final Storke Play Gamecock Leaderboard
T7. Frankie Harris – 202 (-8)
T24. Talan Harrison –  206 (-4)
T38. Brock Blais – 209 (-1)
T45. Marek Fleming – 211 (+1)
T72. Zach Adams – 220 (+10)

2026 SEC Championship Final Stroke Play Leaderboard
1.  No. 1 Auburn – 801 (-39)
2. No. 4 Florida – 807 (-33)
3. No. 3 Texas – 810 (-30)
4. No. 12 Ole Miss – 820 (-20)
5. No. 30 Texas A&M – 824 (-16)
6. No. 41 Mississippi State – 826 (-14)
7. No. 16 Oklahoma – 827 (-13)
8. No. 39 South Carolina – 828 (-12)
–top-eight advanced to match play as Gamecocks won 3-for-1 playoff–
9. No. 5 Arkansas – 828 (-12)
10. No. 25 Georgia – 828 (-12)
11. No. 17 Alabama – 834 (-6)
12. No. 8 LSU – 835 (-5)
13. No. 14 Tennessee – 836 (-4)
14. No. 11 Vanderbilt – 843 (+3)
15. No. 89 Missouri – 849 (+9)
16. No. 54 Kentucky – 868 (+28)

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