Tracy leads Razorbacks at David Toms

BATON ROUGE, La. – Junior Ethan Tracy posted birdies on his final three holes of the day to move to five-under par after the first day of the David Toms Intercollegiate in Baton Rouge, La., and help Arkansas to a 10-under par effort and second place with 18 holes left.

Tracy’s day was one of consistency as he recorded nine birdies and just four bogeys through 36 holes of golf and stands tied for fifth in the individual standings, just two strokes off the pace of co-leaders Austin Gutgsell and Ken Looper, both of the host LSU. In Tracy’s first round he recorded his first birdie on the second hole and would never strike a ball with a score over par. A bogey on the fourth hole of his second round was the first time he had a positive score, but he moved back to par three holes later and then notched his back-to-back-to-back birdie efforts on 16, 17 and 18 to move to three-under par for his second round.

As a team, Arkansas is seven strokes behind the leaders and host LSU at the Country Club of Louisiana. Shooting identical rounds of 283 as a team, the Hogs were tied for first after the first round, but could not match the Tigers’ stunning round of 276 in the second. Middle Tennessee State is third in the standings at seven-under par while South Alabama, the early leader, and North Florida are fourth and fifth, respectively, at six- and three-under par.

Razorback freshmen Sebastian Cappelen and Will Pearson shot identical scored of two-under par in the first round and even par in the second to help the Razorbacks to their team score of 10-under par after two rounds. Both freshmen recorded double bogeys in their second rounds, but fought back to even par and help the Razorbacks in the team race. Pearson’s day included just a pair of bogeys and his double over 36 holes while he notched six birdies. The Memphis, Tenn., native was on when he played the eight par five holes as he shot three-under on those holes.

Cappelen’s round included several more birdies and bogeys than his teammate, with the same end result. In his opening round, Cappelen recorded his fourth eagle of the season on the par five 11th which moved him to two-under par for the round. Over the course of the day, Cappelen recorded eight birdies and his eagle to go along with six bogeys and a double.

Senior Jamie Marshall, Arkansas’ leader in stroke average entering the competition, was one-under par for the day to place him in a tie for 23rd. One-over par in his opening round after counting a double bogey on the par five fifth, Marshall rebounded over the second 18 holes to shoot two-under with four birdies and two bogeys.

The Razorback’s fifth golfer at the tournament, redshirt freshman Kevin Vanden Heuvel, finished his first competitive day of collegiate golf tied for 69th at 14-over par.