Razorbacks open in Minnesota

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The 28th-ranked University of Arkansas men’s golf team opens the 2010-11 season on Sunday morning at the Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata, Minn., for the Gopher Invitational. Arkansas is one of 11 teams in the season-opening tournament and is familiar with the course having participated in the Gopher Invitational in each of the last three seasons.

"I’m looking forward to seeing our guys compete," Arkansas head coach Brad McMakin said. "Qualifying for this weekend was very challenging and I expect the team to be very competitive in their first tournament of the season. Overall the players had very productive summers and gained valuable experience that will help them this year."

The Razorbacks travel three veterans from last season’s squad (Jamie Marshall, Ethan Tracy, Austin Cook) a redshirt (Tobias Pettersson) and one freshman (Sebastian Cappelen) to the Gopher Invitational and tee it up at 8:15 a.m. on tees nine-13 and have players from Lamar and Marquette in their group.

Along with Arkansas, Lamar and Marquette, the host Minnesota, the 2009 defending champion SMU, Kent St., LSU, Iowa, UNC-Charlotte, Wisconsin and UNC-Greensboro make up the 2010 field. SMU was dominant a year ago, shooting 10-under par, to outdistance the Razorbacks who finished second at one under. SMU and Arkansas were the only teams to finish below par and just two of four teams in the past three seasons to accomplish the task.