Razorbacks fade, ousted at NCAAs

Arkansas coach Brad McMakin, right, talks with senior Taylor Moore during the final round of an NCAA regional on Wednesday, May 18, 2016, at Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys golf course in Kohler, Wis.
Arkansas coach Brad McMakin, right, talks with senior Taylor Moore during the final round of an NCAA regional on Wednesday, May 18, 2016, at Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys golf course in Kohler, Wis.

Arkansas shot an 18-over-par 298 on Monday and failed to make the cut for the final eight teams at the NCAA men's golf championships at the Eugene (Ore.) Country Club.

The Razorbacks fell from sixth place to finish in 12th with their worst score of the tournament, which brought their final score to 33 over (1,153).

"We had a bad day today," Arkansas Coach Brad McMakin said. "We got off to a bad start. We made a few birdies on the par 5s, but we could never get it turned around and get the momentum going.

"Hat's off to all the eight teams. It was really tough conditions. The greens were U.S. Open fast and firm. It was a great test and this is what you want in a championship."

The Razorbacks shot a 2-over 282 and were tied for first with TCU after Friday's opening round. On Saturday, they shot 4-over 284 and 9-over 289 on Sunday before Monday's 18-over 298.

Arkansas' top individual finisher was senior Taylor Moore, who fired a 2 over 72 on Monday and finished the tournament at 7 over. Freshman Charles Kim, who was tied for 13th starting the day, fell off with an 8 over that put him at 9 over for the championship.

Senior Kolton Crawford wound up at 11 over, while senior Nicolas Echavarria finished 13 over and sophomore Alvaro Ortiz was 15 over.

The eight advancing teams will be led by Texas, which finished at 14 over, one stroke better than Illinois, which had the tournament's best round on Monday (4 under) and moved up seven spots to second place at 15 over.

The SEC will be represented in the eight-team match play by LSU, which was third at 16 over, Vanderbilt, which tied Southern California for fourth at 17 over, and South Carolina, which was seventh at 22 over. Host Oregon was sixth with a 19 over.

Oklahoma made the day's most surprising move, jumping into the match play with a 3 under round that brought its team score to 24 over. The Sooners had crawled into the fourth round along with Louisville by virtue of winning a scorecard playoff to break a five-team tie for the final two spots in Monday's field of 15.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be held today and the championship round will be played on Wednesday.

"I was pretty happy with the way we played this week except for today," McMakin said. "I'm proud of this team. We finished 12th in the country. ... I'm obviously disappointed we didn't make the eight, but I was proud of these guys."

In today's semifinals, No. 1 seed Texas will face Big 12 foe Oklahoma, Illinois will square off against South Carolina, LSU will take on Oregon and Southern California will compete against Vanderbilt.

Sports on 05/31/2016

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