Guarantees in sports are unique in their audacity. It either takes a supremely confident person or an unabashed athlete who knows something most people don’t, yet what happened on Sunday at the SEC Championship may have been a bit of both.
The SEC Championship’s match play final came down, fittingly, to Auburn vs. Alabama. The two juggernauts were tied at two matches apiece when Tiger freshman Wells Padgett and Alabama’s Jonathan Hardee went to the 18th hole on the Ocean Course at Sea Island all square. Padgett hit his approach to 20 feet, knowing that the putt had the entire conference in the balance.
Congratulations to @AuburnMGolf on their @SEC title over Alabama.
Tune into the @NCAA Selection Show Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. EDT to find out where the Tigers and the rest of the field end up. pic.twitter.com/4oKMmqazUr
— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) April 29, 2018
“That was the biggest putt I’ve ever made in my life,” Padgett told SECSports.com. “Walking down the fairway, someone asked me if we were going to need a playoff hole. I looked him right in the eye and said, ‘There’s not going to be a playoff. I’m making birdie.’ I love the competition of match play. I thrive on it. I had a good read on it, and I could tell after about 3 or 4 feet that it was going in.”
Auburn, the No. 4 seed after stroke play, knocked off No. 5 Arkansas and then the top-seeded LSU Tigers to advance to the finals against the Crimson Tide. Auburn has earned their spot in the NCAA Championships and they will find out where they will be playing on Wednesday during the selection show on May 14.
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