Cook leads Razorbacks to third at Hackler

GEORGETOWN, S.C. – Junior Austin Cook fired a one-over par, 73, on the final round of the General Hackler Championship on Monday afternoon to lead the No. 9 University of Arkansas men’s golf team to a third-place finish.

The Razorbacks shot a final round of 10-over par as a team during Monday’s action to fall one place in the team standings. No. 15 North Florida won the event with a three-round score of 20-over par and was followed by East Carolina (+22), Arkansas (+26), No. 19 New Mexico (+27) and No. 28 Virginia (+34) in the top five of the 15-team tournament.

“I am a little disappointed with the way that we played today,” Arkansas Head Coach Brad McMakin said.  “We definitely did not have our best round today, but I think that we can learn from this as a team and get better.  Even though we didn’t play do what we expected, we still had three players finish among the top 20 individually.”

Cook led the charge with his third top 10 finish of the season when he tied for ninth overall.  Shooting a final round of two-over par, Cook kept himself out of any serious trouble as he sank two birdies and four bogeys on his round.  One-over par at the turn, Cook was as high as three-over par before post two birdies on three holes starting at No. 15.  A bogey on 18 gave him his two-over par round.

Sophomore Sebastian Cappelen carded Arkansas’ best round on Monday despite a pair of double bogeys.  Cappelen was the model of consistency as he began his day with 11 straight par putts before getting hot and carding three straight birdies on 12, 13 and 14.  Three-under as he stepped onto the 16th tee box, Cappelen would record back-to-back double bogeys to quickly erase his sub-par score and finish his day at one-over par.

Recording his third straight scoring effort of the tournament, freshman Kolton Crawford notched a final round 74, three-over par, to tie for 28th overall at 11-over par.  Crawford had a rough start with a double bogey on two, but battled back to one-over par at the turn as he settled in to make six straight pars and a birdie on nine.  He immediately gave the stroke back on 10 with a bogey and added two more along with a birdie on 17 to finish at three-over for the round.

Junior Josh Eure bounced back from a difficult second round to finish off the tournament with a four-over par day.  Eure started with par, birdie, par on his first three holes and moved to one-over par by the turn with bogeys on five and seven.  Eure recovered from a double bogey on 10 with a birdie on 12, but bogeys on 13 and 15 kept his score from getting back to even.

Senior Ethan Tracy had a solid tournament going until he posted his second worst round of the season with a six-over par, 77, on Monday.  Never really getting much going, Tracy had three bogeys and a double over his first seven holes, but managed to make the turn at four-over par after his lone birdie of the day on No. 9.  Back-to-back bogeys in the middle of the back nine were bookended by seven holes of par as he completed his competition tied for 18th overall with a three-round score of nine-over par.  Tracy’s finish was just his second outside the top five individuals this year and ended a streak of five straight in the top five of tournaments.

Competing as an individual, Thomas Sorensen saved his best for last when he shot a three-over par, 74, on the final day of competition.  Sorensen began his round on No. 10 and did not play his best golf over the first nine holes as he made his turn at three-over.  A fourth bogey on No. four had Sorensen at four-over par by the time he played his 13th hole, but a birdie on the next hole, No. 5, and four par putts allowed the Dane to finish with an improved score.

The Razorbacks don’t get much time before their next round of competition as they play in the Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., March 18-20.