Arkansas Tops Leaderboard at NCAA Championship

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Eugene, Ore. – The 21st-ranked Arkansas men’s golf team raced out of the gates Friday morning in the opening round of the NCAA Championship, firing the low round of the day with a 2-over 282 to end up tied for the lead after day one of action at Eugene Country Club.

The round of 282 is the second-best opening round of an NCAA Championship in program history, only behind a 279 in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Championship at Stonebridge Country Club in McKinney, Texas. The Razorbacks also posted their third-lowest opening round of the year.

“Our guys battled today and I thought we played a great round, head coach Brad McMakin said. “We really managed the course well and avoided big numbers. There is still a long way to go and we’ll try to keep this momentum going into the second round.”

Arkansas sits atop the leaderboard, tied with TCU for the lead, while San Diego State, Southern California and Vanderbilt are all stroke back at 3-over.

Kolton Crawford led the way, carding a 2-under 68 to find himself in contention and T-4th overall. He rolled in a team-high four birdies, including birdies on both par fives to record his fourth under-par score in his last eight rounds.

Taylor Moore birdied the opening hole of the day, but fell right back over par with bogeys on three of the next four holes. At 2-over heading to the sixth hole, Moore started to find his rhythm and posted back-to-back birdies to make the turn at even-par. He strung together nine consecutive pars on the back nine for an even-par 70.

Nicolas Echavarria and Alvaro Ortiz had nearly identical cards, finishing at 2-over 72 with three birdies each, including birdies on both par fives. Freshman Charles Kim made his NCAA Championship debut with a 3-over 73 to round out the team.

Arkansas will go off the No. 10 tee Saturday afternoon at 2:42 p.m. CT, playing once again with South Carolina and host Oregon.

@RazorbackMGolf Lineup (Round One)

PlacePlayerScore
T4.Kolton Crawford35-33 – 68 (-2)
T16.Taylor Moore36-34 – 70 (E)
T52.Nicolas Echavarria37-35 – 72 (+2)
T52.Alvaro Ortiz35-37 – 72 (+2)
T72.Charles Kim37-36 – 73 (+3)

NCAA Championship Round One Results

PlaceTeamScore
T1.No. 21 Arkansas282 (+2)
T1.No. 44 TCU282 (+2)
T3.No. 22 San Diego State283 (+3)
T3.No. 3 USC283 (+3)
T3.No. 8 Vanderbilt283 (+3)
T6.No. 5 Oklahoma State285 (+5)
T6.No. 13 Florida State285 (+5)
T8.No. 12 LSU286 (+6)
T8.No. 16 Florida286 (+6)
T10.No. 19 South Carolina287 (+7)
T10.No. 11 California287 (+7)
T12.No. 2 Texas289 (+9)
T12.No. 28 Kentucky289 (+9)
T12.No. 14 Wake Forest289 (+9)
T15.No. 4 Illinois290 (+10)
T15.No. 17 Alabama290 (+10)
T15.No. 18 Oklahoma290 (+10)
T15.No. 7 Arizona State290 (+10)
T19.No. 50 Louisville291 (+11)
T19.No. 20 Oregon291 (+11)
T19.No. 15 South Florida291 (+11)
T19.No. 6 Georgia291 (+11)
T19.No. 10 Clemson291 (+11)
T24.No. 1 Stanford292 (+12)
T24.No. 23 Virginia292 (+12)
26.No. 26 Baylor293 (+13)
T27.No. 9 Auburn294 (+14)
T27.No. 33 UAB294 (+14)
29.No. 35 Houston296 (+16)
30.No. 32 Purdue299 (+19)

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