The No. 21 Arkansas Razorbacks struggled with tough pin placements on Sunday but easily advanced to the final stage of stroke play at the NCAA men’s golf championships at the Eugene (Ore.) Country Club.
Freshman Charles Kim fired an even-par 70 to lead the Razorbacks’ round of 9-over 289, their worst of the three rounds. Arkansas, which was tied for the lead after the opening round and in third place after two rounds, is now in sixth place at 15 over.
The 30-team field was cut to 15 teams for today’s last round of stroke play. The field will be narrowed to eight teams for match play and the medalist will be determined after today’s round.
No. 8 Vanderbilt leads the field at 5 over, two shots ahead of No. 2 Texas, which fired a 3-under 277, tying the best round of the tournament. Southern California (10 over), defending NCAA champion LSU (11 over) and tournament host Oregon (12 over) also are ahead of the Razorbacks.
“I was pretty pleased with today,” Arkansas Coach Brad McMakin said. “The golf course is obviously a lot tougher, the scores are a lot higher, and the pins are very tough and hard to get to.
“You’ve got to get it close to have a chance to make a birdie. We battled in there and were one score short from having a really good day, but I’m happy with where we are.”
Arkansas senior Kolton Crawford carded a 3 over and is tied for 21st place at 3 over. Senior Taylor Moore bogeyed two of his last three holes and finished the day at 5 over. Senior Nicolas Echavarria was 2 over for the day, and sophomore Alvaro Ortiz had the team’s non-scoring round of 6 over.