The University of Arkansas men's golf team will wrap up its fall schedule beginning today at the second annual Jackson T. Stephens Cup to be held at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla.
The Arkansas women will also participate and join Stanford as the only two schools to have both their men and women play in the prestigious tournament named in honor of the late Augusta National Chairman.
The inaugural tournament, which features seven men's and women's programs and 12 individuals, was played in 2021 at The Alotian Club in Roland with Notre Dame defeating Arkansas for the men's championship and LSU earning the women's title over South Carolina.
Patrick Mwendapole of the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff is one of six individuals playing in the men's stroke-play division.
The field will play 36 holes today and 18 on Tuesday to determine individual champions and set the seeding for match play. The top two teams in each division will play for the Stephens Cup championship on Wednesday.
Besides Arkansas and Notre Dame, last year's third-place finisher, Florida State also returns to this year's field which includes returning individual champion Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (Arkansas) and runner-up Palmer Jackson (Notre Dame).
Individually, the men's field has 13 of the top 50 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking including No. 4 Michael Thorbjornsen (Stanford), No. 6 Austin Greaser (North Carolina), No. 9 Travis Vick (Texas), No. 13 David Ford (North Carolina), No. 26 Fernandez de Oliveira, No. 28 Barclay Brown, No. 29 Brian Stark (Oklahoma State), No. 30 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Oklahoma State), No. 36 Jackson, No. 37 Christian Maas (Texas), No. 40 Bo Jin (Oklahoma State), No. 41 Frederik Kjettrup (Florida State) and No. 46 Karl Vilips (Stanford).
Julian Perico, Manuel Lozada, Segundo Oliva Pinto and Matthew Griggs will join de Oliveira in the Arkansas lineup.
The No. 9 ranked Arkansas women finished fourth in last year's inaugural tournament after losing to Ole Miss in the third-place match.
Miriam Ayora, who is ranked 38th in the Golfweek rankings, leads the Razorback lineup, along with Julia Gregg, Giovanna Fernandez, Reagan Zibilski and Kajal Mistry who finished 11th in last year's event.