CARLSBAD, Calif. – Auburn’s Cayden Pope led the Saturday charge at the Omni La Costa Champions Course, shaving eight strokes off his previous score for a team-best 3-under 69 in round two of the 2025 NCAA Championship.

It was a 6-under day for the Tigers, securing third place at 8-under overall heading into Sunday.

“It’s a big advantage to get out of the gate early, and we played well enough to make it count,” head coach Nick Clinard said, “but still, this course is certainly not easy. It’s a great challenge for the best players in college golf. Today, our guys really took what they learned from yesterday’s round and made some necessary adjustments, especially Cayden (Pope). Now, we’ll rest up and be ready to attack again tomorrow.”

A flashy 277 (-11) saw the Sun Devils take the team lead at 13-under. Auburn will play the third round alongside No. 5 Arizona State and No. 6 Oklahoma. The threesomes will go off the first hole at 8:30 a.m. CT, teeing off in 11-minute intervals.

Pope began the morning with three pars and a bogey on the fourth, followed by a brilliant stretch of golf that featured four birdies in a six-hole stretch. The Lexington, Kentucky native picked up the birdies on 5, 6, 9 and 10. He then made five consecutive pars before closing out bogey, par, birdie.

“Didn’t really putt the way I wanted to yesterday, so I put in some work on the putting green last night. I’m really happy with how I rebounded today,” Pope said. “I made some good putts and was really consistent all day.”

Auburn found two more subpar rounds from the dangerous duo of Brendan Valdes and Jackson Koivun, both of whom went 2-under 70 on the day. Valdes began and ended his round with birdies on 1 and 18. He also added 14 pars, a bogey on 10 and another birdie on 11. Valdes is Auburn’s most well-positioned player on the individual leaderboard, holding strong at tied for third place.

Koivun delivered another consistent round, making 14 pars of his own. He bogeyed 14, but added birdies on 1, 2, and 17.

Senior Carson Bacha was the team’s final counting score with a 1-over 73. Sophomore Josiah Gilbert shot 75 (+3).

After 36 holes, Auburn sits 20 shots ahead of the projected cutline. The field will be cut to 15 following Sunday’s round for one final round of stroke play on Monday.