Razorbacks eighth at NCAA regional

ATLANTA – Senior Dalton Owens fired a final round of even par and junior Jamie Marshall was one-over to lead the University of Arkansas men’s golf team to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Atlanta Regional on Saturday at the Crabapple Golf Course at Capital City Country Club in Atlanta, Ga. Arkansas’ eighth-place team finish was four strokes shy of what it needed, a top five finish, in order to move on to the NCAA Championships and Marshall’s tied-for-13th-place finish placed him just outside of making the NCAA field as an individual.

"Obviously we are disappointed about not making it to the NCAA Championships," Arkansas head coach Brad McMakin said. "We had an opportunity on the final day but knew that we had a lot of work to do to get it done. Dalton was unbelievable over the final 36 holes. He is a guy that worked for five years and steadily got better. I couldn’t be more proud of his accomplishments this year."

Owens’ put together a splendid final two days of his collegiate career by shooting even par on both Friday and Saturday. Saturday’s action saw the Mt. Vernon, Mo., native go two-over par through seven holes before four birdies and two pars over the next six placed him at two-under with five to play. Back-to-back bogeys would move him to even par and he concluded his round with three-straight holes of par. His overall score of 216 placed him tied for 26th on the individual leaderboard.

Marshall also played well for the Razorbacks on Saturday as he backed up his three-under par score from Friday with a four-over par round which placed him in a tie for 13th. Like Owens, Marshall was behind early at two-over par, his through just four holes, but he settled in to get to just one over by the turn with two birdies and a bogey. Three bogeys on the back nine placed him at four over for the day and finished his competition off at a two-over par 212 for the three days.

Freshman Josh Eure saved his best round for Saturday as the first-year player recovered from a bad three-putt on the first hole to shoot a two-over par, 72. Eure settled in after his rocky start and got back to even on the day with a birdie on the par 4, fifth. Bogeys on nine, 12 and 17 for Eure appeared to have his day locked in at three over but a great approach shot on 18 led to a birdie and his final round score. Eure was tied for 49th overall.

Fellow first-year player Austin Cook finished his first season as a Razorback with a final round, 73. Cook carded six bogeys and three birdies in his round including back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes and a brilliant approach shot on the 17th which led to another birdie.

Senior David Lingmerth struggled in his final round, shooting 75. Lingmerth was at even par through 11 holes, but a disastrous stretch between 12 and 15 put him at five over for the round.

Many of the Razorback golfers now look to play in various tournaments over the summer months before getting back for the fall season.