Neutral site fine, but UA coach wants more

Arkansas coach Brad McMakin has the Razorbacks in the NCAA regionals for the eighth consecutive year.
Arkansas coach Brad McMakin has the Razorbacks in the NCAA regionals for the eighth consecutive year.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys does not serve as the home golf course to any of the 13 teams participating in the NCAA Kohler Regional, which starts today at Kohler, Wisc.

But the fact that the Kohler Regional is at a neutral site matters less to Arkansas Coach Brad McMakin than the difficulty of the 7,250-yard layout nestled in the bends of the Sheboygan River about a mile and a half from Lake Michigan.

NCAA Golf Regional

WHEN Today-Saturday

WHERE Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys Course, Kohler Wisc.

COURSE STATS 7,250 yards, par 72

LIVE STATS Golfstat.com

REGIONAL SEEDS 2. Illinois, 10. Florida State, 16. Florida, 21. Arkansas, No. 28 Baylor, No. 33 Penn State, No. 35 Memphis, No. 48 Kent State.

ARKANSAS LINEUP 1. Taylor Moore (71.4 scoring average), 2. Nicolas Echavarria (72.3), 3. Alvaro Ortiz (72.8), , No. 4 Charles Kim (73.8), No. 5 Kolton Crawford (73.4).

NOTEWORTHY Arkansas had a 71-23-3 record in the spring. … Senior Taylor Moore is a three-time All-SEC player. … The Meadow Valleys course was No. 72 in Golf Digest’s rankings of America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses for 2015-16. … The Meadow Valleys course has two par 5s and two par 3s on each nine.

"I just want it to be hard," McMakin said. "I don't want a 9 seed to be able to go out and beat a 2 seed or a 3 seed because they putted well. I want them to have to go out and hit it, strike it. And if they hit a bad shot they get penalized. And if we hit a bad shot we get penalized."

Marquette is acting as tournament host but wsa not selected to participate, leaving top-seeded Illinois as the closest team to the off-campus regional site, and the Ilini reside nearly 300 miles away.

Arkansas is the No. 4 seed, behind the Illini, No. 11-ranked Florida State and No. 12 Florida, and ahead of No. 29 Baylor, No. 31 Penn State, No. 35 Memphis and No. 48 Kent State. The other teams in the field are UCLA, East Tennessee State, Campbell, Idaho and South Dakota State.

The No. 21 Razorbacks, running hot after a third-place finish at the SEC championships, will tee it up at 8:20 a.m. today with Baylor and Penn State for the first of three rounds. Arkansas has qualified for nine consecutive NCAA regionals under McMakin and has advanced to the championships four times in the last seven years.

The top five teams from each of six NCAA regional sites will comprise the field for the NCAA championships starting May 27 in Eugene, Ore.

The other five NCAA regionals are being played on home courses for Alabama, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt.

Not that much is known about Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys, other than it is near Lake Michigan and in the same complex of courses as Whistling Straits, famed as the host of three PGA Championships in the past 12 years.

McMakin and his team have scoured all resources in the business to get information on Meadow Valleys, one of the two courses at Blackwolf Run.

"It's a very neutral site, which is kind of a first," said Arkansas senior Taylor Moore, the team's top golfer. "Coach got a yardage book somehow ... and we've been looking at that and seeing how we're going to attack the golf course before we head up."

The Razorbacks flew to Wisconsin on Saturday to get in some work on the bluegrass rough in the area before Sunday's practice round.

"It looks tight and it looks long," McMakin said.

Cincinnati Coach Doug Martin, McMakin's former Oklahoma teammate, has seen the course.

"He said it's definitely a ball striker's golf course," McMakin said, "and that if you can't hit it, you can't get around."

Arkansas is coming off a tie for third at the SEC championships, at which Moore tied for fifth and freshman Charles Kim, in the fifth spot in Arkansas' lineup, came in ninth. The Hogs battled back from an opening-round 8-over and seventh place to finish eight shots behind SEC champion Georgia.

"Maybe we haven't gotten off to good starts on tournaments, but we've always found our way to get it back together," said Arkansas senior Nicolas Echavarria, who is second in the lineup. "We have two tournaments left, and if we have two good first rounds, we can make something special out of this semester."

McMakin said the Razorbacks enter the NCAAs with confidence, especially with senior Kolton Crawford, No. 5 in the Arkansas lineup, practicing well the last couple of weeks.

"The really good rounds that we've played, we could have beaten anybody in the country," McMakin said. "We don't have to play great to make the NCAAs, we do have to play great to win. We've got a good enough team.

"We've got so much consistency. Taylor's been such a horse this semester. When you've got a guy like that and you've got some seniors with experience and you add a kid [Kim] who transfers in who's averaging [73.8], it's hard to mess it up.

"If we can get through this stage and move on to Oregon, I think we can make the final eight."

Sports on 05/16/2016

Upcoming Events