Jason Dufner, who finished tied for fifth at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits last weekend, was at Auburn's football practice Monday. His previous best finish in a major was 30th in this year's Masters.

He has one more event in Greensboro before the FedEx Cup begins. He finished 10th last year.

Dufner has lived in Auburn since 2003, after spending two or three years in South Florida playing on mini-tours. Once he got established on the Nationwide and PGA Tour, he moved back to the Plains.

He spoke to reporters briefly. Here's what he had to say:

(How much fun did you have last weekend?)
"It was a pretty good week, best finish in a major, so that was good. Best tournament of the year so far. Trying to build on it going into the playoffs."

(How does it feel that your Tour card is safe?)
"You don’t really think about it as much as some people suggest, but it’s in the back of your mind, what’s going to be the number to keep my card for next year? Last year once I locked that up, I played a lot freer and had some really good finishes after that."

(What did you think about the two-stroke penalty Dustin Johnson got for grounding his club in a "bunker" on the 72nd hole?)
"You know I’d left by then, so I’m not really sure what was said after it happened. But I do know there were notices all over the locker room and everything. It’s kind of unfortunate for Dustin that it happened, but I can’t say the PGA didn’t try to warn you about situations like that."

(Did you have a situation like that this week?)
"No, pretty much I think I was in three or four bunkers for the week, and I knew it. It wasn’t in an area that was 60 or 70 yards off the middle of the fairway. I tend to not be in those areas too often."

(What did you do well?)
"I did everything pretty well. I struggled a little bit with my putting this year, but last week I putted really well. I’ve been working with my coach on trying to get more efficient and effective with my putting, and that paid off."

(Are you a football fan?)
"Yeah, huge football fan. It’s pretty exciting to see what’s going on with the program now. I was close to Tommy (Tuberville), and I was sad to see him leave. But I’m excited about what coach (Gene) Chizik’s doing and the recruits we’re getting, and hopefully the product that we can put out on the field is going to be competitive and try to vie for the SEC title and start looking into winning some national championships."

The NCAA released its annual Academic Progress Rate report Wednesday, and none of Auburn's three major sports — football, men's basketball and baseball — received penalties.

It's Tuesday, and while I'll be covering the Brookstone High baseball doubleheader this afternoon, there are some things to watch at Auburn today:

• Ledger-Enquirer preps reporter Chris White was all over the news that Shaw High's Chris Denson will sign with Auburn this afternoon. Denson, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard from Midland, Ga., just outside of Columbus, averaged 24 points during his senior season. He's ranked as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com and will be third player the Tigers have signed since Tony Barbee was hired less than two months ago. (Follow Chris' newly formed Twitter account by clicking here. And while you're there, follow the War Eagle Extra as well.)

• The Auburn women's golf team tees off in the NCAA championships at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, N.C., this morning. The Tigers, who are ranked No. 4 nationally, are one of 24 teams in the field. It's a 72-hole tournament. Former Central-Phenix standout Haley Wilson is one of Auburn's golfers. The sophomore has three top-20 finishes and two top-10 finishes this year. You can follow along with live scoring at GolfStat.com.

• The Auburn baseball team hosts Jacksonville State at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight. It doesn't seem like a tough matchup for the Tigers (35-17, 17-10 SEC), who are in first place in the SEC West by a game over Arkansas and Ole Miss. But every win helps Auburn's hopes of hosting an NCAA Regional. Sixteen teams get to host. A number of factors are taken into account, including a team's record and RPI (the Tigers are 16th), but also financial considerations. Auburn hasn't made an NCAA Regional since 2005 and hasn't hosted since 2003.

• Lastly, and perhaps most important in most peoples' minds, the Auburn football team has narrowed its intro songs to eight, using the power of democracy. Check them out here and vote again to narrow the field once more. The second round of voting ends May 23. Your survivors:

• All I do is Win - DJ Kahled
• Vox Populi - 30 Seconds to Mars
• Tiger Walk - Travis Williams
• Welcome to the Show - Saliva
• Showstopper - Toby Mac
• Boom - P.O.D.
• Welcome Home - Coheed and Cambria
• Thunderstruck - AC/DC

The No. 4 Auburn women's golf team finished tied for fourth at the NCAA East Regional, qualifying for the NCAA championship in a week and a half.

The No. 4 Auburn women's golf team dropped to fifth place after two rounds of the NCAA East Regional at Ironwood Country Club in Greenville, N.C.

Central-Phenix graduate Haley Wilson shot a 5-over-par 77 to drop to 3-over for the tournament. She's tied for 44th overall.

The No. 4 Auburn women's golf team leads the field after Day 1 at the NCAA East Regional at Ironwood Country Club in Greensville, N.C., with a team score of 8-under-par 280.

Haley Wilson, a Central-Phenix graduate, shot a final-round 1-under-par 71 to finish the SEC tournament tied for seventh at 1-under. Wilson, who finished 12th last year, tied for team-low honors with Cydney Clanton.

Central-Phenix graduate Haley Wilson shot another even-par round of 71 in the second round of the SEC tournament at North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa.

Wilson, a sophomore, and teammate Cydney Clanton are both tied for 11th overall with two-round scores of 142.

Auburn, which is ranked No. 3 nationally, shot a 4-over-par 288 as a team and is tied for sixth place after two rounds, 12 strokes off the lead. Alabama and Vanderbilt are tied for first at 3-under.

The No. 3 Auburn women's golf team is tied for seventh after the first day of the SEC championship at the North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers shot a 5-over-par 289.

Let me say off the bat that this post has nothing Auburn related in it. So if that's what you're looking for, check back tomorrow for a link to my story about the Tigers' special teams and a full practice report.

It was another jam-packed weekend at Auburn. Let's give a quick rundown:

FOOTBALL

OK, nothing happened football-wise this weekend, but it's Auburn, so the blog has to start here. Tuesday is pro day. Things start at 2 p.m. ET. RB Ben Tate, DE/OLB Antonio Coleman, CB Walt McFadden, QB Chris Todd, TE/DE Gabe McKenzie and DT Jake Ricks are expected to be there. I can't imagine Tate doing too many of the workouts, especially after what he did last week at the NFL Combine. Those numbers can stand by themselves. However, it will be an important day for Coleman, who needs to bounce back from a sub-par combine performance, and McFadden, who didn't get a combine invite and will be working out in front of many scouts for the first time.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Not a great weekend for Jeff Lebo's squad, as the blog wrote about here. Lebo's job status is certainly the hot topic. And while I'm not sure exactly what Auburn is going to do, it's telling that Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs (pictured, right), who has declined comment on the issue, has not vocalized even a token measure of public support for the coach. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. The Tigers, of course, have to play in the SEC tournament first. And while getting the fifth seed didn't seem all that great, it actually works out as a better draw. Auburn gets Florida in the first round, a tough but not impossible matchup. A win would pit the Tigers against Mississippi State. Had Auburn been the four seed, a win would have gotten it a matchup with top-seeded Kentucky. The Tigers' current road through the tournament isn't easy, but at least it doesn't lead them through a top-five team nationally.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

The season is over for Nell Fortner's crew. The Tigers got to the second round of the SEC tournament before losing to second-seeded Kentucky. That left them with a 15-16 overall record, just shy of being at .500 and eligible for the WNIT. Auburn also said it won't accept an invitation to the newly-formed WBI, meaning it's curtains for this year's crew. The final verdict? Not a great season for Auburn, but not a surprising one either, after losing four seniors and a national player of the year candidate from a team that went 30-4 last season. This squad played with six freshmen and sophomores. The only senior was KeKe Carrier. And Alli Smalley appeared ready by the end of the season to be, for lack of a better phrase, The Man. If Smalley can be a go-to player next year and that young group can mature, I don't think it would be a stretch to think Auburn would be back in the thick of things in the SEC.

BASEBALL

The Tigers (9-2) are on a roll, sweeping a three-game weekend series against Miami (Ohio) to run their winning streak to five games. Hunter Morris starred Sunday, going 4-for-5 with a home run and two doubles. Auburn also appears to have established its ace. Junior college transfer Cole Nelson (3-0) allowed two runs on seven hits. He struck out eight in seven innings. In 19 1/3 innings this year, he's given up three runs (1.40 ERA). He has 23 strikeouts and five walks. Makes you wonder how long John Pawlowski will continue to trot out Jon Luke Jacobs (0-1, 7.07) and Grant Dayton (1-1, 6.14) on Friday and Saturday nights. At some point, it seems like you have to make that switch. The Tigers have Alabama on Tuesday in the MAX Capital City Classic in Montgomery. They host Appalachian State on Wednesday before traveling to Tempe, Ariz., for a three-game series with No. 12 Arizona State this weekend.

SOFTBALL

Senior Anna Thompson threw her first collegiate no-hitter Friday in a 1-0 win against Louisiana Tech. She struck out 16 in the win and 25 on the day after getting the nod against Tennessee State in the second game of the doubleheader. The Tigers went on to beat Gardner-Webb and Valparaiso to finish 4-0 in the War Eagle Classic. Auburn (13-6) has one more non-conference tune-up, a Wednesday game at South Alabama, before beginning SEC play Friday at home against Kentucky.

WOMEN'S GOLF

The Tigers, who are No. 3 in the country if you haven't noticed, carded a 6-over-par 294 to win the one-day Auburn Invitational on Sunday. Cydney Clanton and Patricia Sanz led the way with even-par 72s. Haley Wilson, a Central-Phenix City grad, shot a 2-over 74, earning her first top-10 performance this season.

Auburn announced the hiring of Central Florida's Nick Clinard as its new men's golf coach Sunday. He replaces Mike Griffin, who retired this spring after 25 years with the Tigers.

Here's the release from the school:

AUBURN — Eight-year head coaching veteran Nick Clinard, who led the University of Central Florida to a top 10 finish in the 2009 NCAA Championship, has been named head men's golf coach at Auburn University, athletics director Jay Jacobs announced Sunday.

Clinard led UCF to NCAA Regional play in five of the last six seasons, including 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009, and the Knights have won six tournament titles in the past two seasons. Clinard has nine tournament victories including two conference championships, coached one All-American, four Academic All-Americans, two conference players of the year, three individual conference champions and eight all-conference selections at UCF.

UCF won the NCAA Southeast Regional title by defeating No. 2 Georgia and No. 13 South Carolina this past year along with claiming the school's first Conference USA Championship. The Knights also won The Hummingbird Intercollegiate and the Rio Pinar Invitational as Clinard was named Conference USA Coach of the Year and the NCAA Southeast Regional Coach of the Year.

Clinard played professional golf for five seasons from 1996-2001 on the NGA Hooters Tour as well as several Nike Tour and Canadian Tour events prior to becoming head coach of UCF.

The Gastonia, N.C., native graduated from Wake Forest University in 1995 with a Bachelor's degree in speech communication. He played one year of collegiate golf at SMU before playing his final three years at Wake Forest from 1992-95, where the Demon Deacons were ranked in the top 10 in the nation all three seasons.

OK, folks. The blog, after a refreshing week long vacation to lovely Lynchburg, Va. (my old stomping grounds), is back. It was a good week, one not limited to ...

• A trip to D.C. to see the Washington Nationals play the Mets (note: the Nats are the worst major league team I've ever seen, and I stuck with the Twins through the mid- and late-'90s. I mean Livan Hernandez shut them down, and he's 54 years old).

• Two splendid rounds of golf, during which I did much better than I thought I would (five pars and a birdie in one round!), especially considering I had only gone out once this year prior to last week.
  

• One viewing of "The Hangover" that went so well a subsequent viewing is in the works.

• More trips to Dairy Queen than I would like to admit.

ANYWAY, I just so happened to pick a pretty busy summer week at Auburn to take off, so I thought I'd play catch-up with the blog here. I'll run through this stuff pretty quick, since I'm sure you've read about it elsewhere, but I did want to touch on everything anyway.

POTOSNAK NAMED ASSISTANT BASKETBALL COACH

After months of searching, Auburn men's basketball coach Jeff Lebo named Ken Potosnak as his assistant coach, replacing John Cooper, who left to be the head coach at Tennessee State in March. Potosnak was at South Carolina, where Lebo used to be an assistant and probably still knows a few people. So that makes sense. It appears Potosnak is a good recruiter, which is always a plus in the basketball world.

RICHARD QUICK DIES AT 66

Swimming and diving coach Richard Quick died, seven months after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Quick was a coaching legend, having won an NCAA record 13 national titles at Auburn, Stanford and Texas, in addition to leading U.S. Olympic teams in 1988, 1996 and 2000. A memorial fund was set up in his name. It can be found here.

SANDERS, THREE OTHER AUBURN PLAYERS TAKEN IN MLB DRAFT

So long, Joseph Sanders. That's probably what is going to happen. The junior third baseman was selected in the fifth round of the 2009 MLB first-year player draft last week. He told AuburnSports.com that he would leave Auburn if he went in the first seven rounds. He's probably going to make some good money being a fifth-round pick. Negotiations sound like a mere formality. Other players taken were junior RHP Scott Shuman (Tampa Bay, 19th round), senior RHP Paul Burnside (Chicago White Sox, 39th round) and junior RHP Taylor Thompson (Chicago White Sox, 44th round). The real problems for Auburn are for drafted players who haven't yet arrived on campus. Shortstop Nick Franklin out of Orlando, Fla., went to the Seattle Mariners in the first round. Catcher Lucas Bailey of LaGrange, Ga., went in the fourth round to Tampa Bay. Junior college pitcher Drew Madrigal went to the San Diego Padres in the 11th round. And high school pitcher Garrett Bush went to the Orioles in the 15th round. If any of them sign (and some are bound to), that's a pretty big blow to a program trying to rebuild. On a side note, Brandon Jacobs, a running back signee for the Tigers, was taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 10th round, might sign as well.

FOOTBALL ADDS SIXTH COMMITMENT

And now for the part you really care about. The football team added its sixth commitment for 2010 when Troy, Ala., linebacker Jawara White made Auburn his choice. The Henderson High outside linebacker picked the Tigers over offers from Florida State, Ole Miss, Alabama and Arkansas, among others, according to AuburnSports.com. Rivals.com has him ranked as the No. 28 outside linebacker nationally. He's 6-foot-2, 220 pounds and had 88 tackles, one interception and four sacks as a junior. White is Auburn's second commit at linebacker, a position of great need, joining Jake Holland of Pelham, Ala.

Hello all. As you've noticed, it's been a slow week on the War Eagle Extra. Most of Auburn's events were on the road and I spent most of my weekend dealing with weather conditions in Montgomery to cover the Glenwood High baseball team's march through the AISA state playoffs.

ANYWAY, here's getting you caught up on some stuff that occurred during that time ...

BO KNOWS COMMENCEMENTS

Bo Jackson, who you might know as the greatest video game athlete of all time (he was also a pretty good actual football player too from what I gather), was the speaker at Auburn's commencement speech. There are several good accounts of the speech by my colleagues that you can read here and here.

BASEBALL MISSES SEC TOURNAMENT ... AGAIN

That's six years and counting for the Tigers, who lost two games of a doubleheader Saturday at Kentucky while Vanderbilt won the first two games of a series against Georgia. Auburn (28-24, 9-14 SEC) has lost 12 of its last 14 conference games. While that seems like it would knock the Tigers out of any NCAA tournament contention, amazingly that might not be the case. Auburn had an RPI of 34 heading into the last weekend, with a game against Georgia Southern (RPI of 30) and three against Alabama (RPI of 32) still to go. It's not unprecedented for a team to make the tournament despite missing the SEC tournament. Auburn did it in 2005, with a 32-24 overall record and a 13-17 record in the SEC. It would take a strong finish to the season, though, which I'm not sure this group is capable of.

URBAN MEYER NOT A FAN OF AUBURN'S LIMO TACTIC

Again, this is old news, but Florida coach Urban Meyer isn't crazy about Auburn's decision to shuttle its coaches around Alabama in various stretch limos. Here's his comment to the Gainesville Sun (via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) about whether or not the NCAA should look into the practice: “I think it should. We’re trying to sell graduation rates and academics…..The Florida coaching staff will not be riding around in limos and ripping off our shirts.” That, by the way, is a great two-for-one shot at Auburn and the bare-chest thumping coaches at Tennessee. Honestly, the more Meyer talks about it, the more attention Auburn is going to get, which was the point in the first place. My opinion: coaches will stop at nothing to get recruits if they will help their football program. Is the limo tactic legal under NCAA rules? Yes. Are the Tigers pushing the boundaries of what is allowed by the NCAA? Probably. But those boundary pushers are the ones that stand out in recruiting, which is exactly what Auburn needs to do to compete for some of this elite talent (although this would seem to run contrary to Gene Chizik's statement that Auburn recruits itself).

WOMEN'S GOLF FINISHES DISAPPOINTING 10TH AT NCAA REGIONALS

That should read "very disappointing" 10th-place finish at the NCAA Regionals. The Tigers were ranked No. 5 in the country, the second-highest seed that headed to Florida. But they struggled out of the gate and never recovered in the three-day event, failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Central High alum and Fort Mitchell, Ala., native Haley Wilson finished in a tie for 23rd with a 10-over-par 220. She carded a final round score of 2-under to move up 36 places in the rankings.

SOFTBALL HEADS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT

The third-seeded Tigers are in the NCAAs for the sixth time, heading to Atlanta to play second-seeded Iowa in the NCAA Regional. Auburn (29-27) plays Friday at 5 p.m. ET. The other teams in the regional include top-seeded Georgia Tech (41-13) and fourth-seeded Boston College (41-16).

The NCAA's yearly Academic Progress Rate scores are in and three Auburn sports failed to make the grade: men's basketball, men's swimming and men's track.

The basketball team self-imposed the penalty last season and will have all of its scholarships available next season. Men's swimming was docked .99 of a scholarship (it is normally allowed 9.9) and men's track lost .03 of a scholarship (it is normally allowed 12.6).

“We are committed to ensuring that every student-athlete in every sport at Auburn is given the support they need to succeed academically," Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said in a quote released by the school. "While we are pleased that 18 of our 21 sports met the NCAA’s benchmark for academic progress, we will not be satisfied until all of our sports reach this level. Failure to meet the benchmarks set forth by the NCAA under its academic reform program is unacceptable. In this case, we decided to be aggressive in getting this behind us, so the penalties have already been taken for the current academic year.

“Our most important academic goal is the graduation of our student-athletes, and we are committed to seeing that they have every opportunity to earn their degrees.”

The APR was designed by the NCAA to measure academic progress. It allocates points for eligibility and retention. Basically, you get a point for every player that's academically eligible and a point for every player that stays at the school. The APR is the total points a team earns, divided by the total points possible, multiplied by 1,000.

The numbers released Wednesday are from a four-year period that ended with the 2007-08 academic year. Teams below an APR of 925 are subject to scholarship losses. A perfect score is 1,000.

Here's a link to a pdf of Auburn's team page. Here's an NCAA link in case you feel like looking up other schools.

These are Auburn's scores by sport:

MEN
Golf 967
Tennis 962
Football 949
Cross country 939
Baseball 938
Swimming 920
Basketball 899
Indoor track 894
Outdoor track 892

WOMEN
Golf 992
Cross country 978
Gymnastics 976
Soccer 976
Volleyball 967
Swimming 961
Softball 958
Tennis 957
Basketball 950
Indoor track 942
Outdoor track 941

And just for fun, here are all of the scores for the SEC's football teams:

FOOTBALL
Georgia 976
Vanderbilt 969
Florida 963
LSU 960
Alabama 955
Auburn 949
Tennessee 949
Kentucky 948
Mississippi State 933
South Carolina 929
Arkansas 927
Ole Miss 910 (three scholarships lost)

Apparently, Ole Miss was expecting today's news.

The Auburn women's golf team captured its seventh SEC championship and first since 2006, finishing at +18 in the three-day tournament to win by six strokes. The Tigers entered Sunday down three to Arkansas but gained 11 strokes on the Razorbacks to win by eight.

Former Central High standout Haley Wilson (picture) finished in 12th place, her best finish as a collegian. She finished at +6 for the tournament, with rounds of 70, 78 and 71 at par-71 University Club course in Blythewood, S.C.

The Tigers had four players finish in the top 12, led by Cydney Clanton, who finished at +3 and tied for fourth. Patricia Sanz (+4, t-6th) and Candace Schepperle (+5, t-10th) rounded out Auburn's top three.

Here's the full individual leaderboard and here's the team leaderboard.

The NCAA regionals are up next for Auburn, taking place May 7-9 at a site to be announced.

Former Central High golfer Haley Wilson is tied for the lead after one round at the SEC championships at University Club in Blythewood, S.C., shooting a 1-under-par 70.

She's one of three players at minus-1 after the first round, tied with Ole Miss' Ashley Lance and Arkansas' Lucy Nunn.

It was the second round under par Wilson has had in her brief college career since graduating early from Central in December. She carded a 2-under-par 70 in her first collegiate round at the Central District Invitational on Feb. 16.

Here's a link to the leaderboard. There are two more days in the championships.

Auburn leads the team competition at plus-5. Arkansas is second at plus-11.

The SEC women's golf championships begin Friday at University Club in Blythewood, S.C., and one of Auburn's participants is freshman Haley Wilson, who graduated early from Central High to compete this spring.

I wrote a story about her for today's paper.

Here's a video of some of the interview with Haley from earlier this week.

I was just wading through my e-mail for the day and saw that two folks from Auburn qualified for the U.S. Amateur at a sectional that concluded today at the Auburn University Club.

Auburn grad assistant Jay Moseley carded a two-day 5-under 139 to take first place. Auburn's Will Swift and Cory Gilmer tied for third, with Gilmer winning a sudden-death playoff between the pair to clinch the final U.S. Amateur bid handed out at the sectional.

Georgia Southern's Jordan Johnston took second to also earn a bid.

Auburn has two other players who have qualified for the U.S. Amateur -- junior Cole Moreland, who qualified in Keller, Texas, and freshman Kyle Kopsick, who qualified in Watertown, Wis.

The U.S. Amature will be held Aug. 18-24 at Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C.