Arkansas men's golf secures NCAA Championship berth with third-place finish at regional

The Arkansas men’s golf team secured a berth in the NCAA Championship with a third-place finish at the Corvallis (Oregon) Regional on Wednesday. The top-seed Razorbacks shot a 3-under par at the Trysting Tree Golf Club to finish the three rounds of stroke play at 11-under (841). Wednesday’s round was a 4-shot improvement over Tuesday’s 1-over that had the Razorbacks clinging on for a top-five finish and a berth in the NCAA Championships next week. “Obviously we didn’t have our best day yesterday,” Arkansas coach Brad McMakin said, “but I had full confidence they would bounce back today. I am extremely proud of the way they handled the pressure today and hopefully we can build on that next week.

We’ve had a really good season so far and think we can make it a great one. This team has the ability to make it to [match play].” Oklahoma dominated the regional field and won by 20 strokes at 34-under, with UCLA claiming second place at 14-under. Purdue, which opened the first round with a 12-under to lead the field, floundered on Wednesday with a 10-over and had to fight off a host of teams to claim fourth place at 10-under. The fifth and final spot was claimed by San Diego in a playoff with Liberty, each at 9-under.

San Diego nailed down the fifth-place spot on the second playoff hole. The Razorbacks collectively shot a 281 on Wednesday with Erich Fortlage and Gerardo Gomez each posting under-par rounds. Fortlage, who had an eagle at the par-5 No. 14, fired a 4-under 67. Fortlage started the back nine with a bogey at No. 10, then finished on fire with the eagle, followed by birdies at Nos. 15, 16, and 18.

Gomez shot a 1-under 70 that featured birdies at Nos. 1, 6, and 11, with bogeys at Nos. 10 and 17. John Daly II and Cam Smith were 1-over with matching 72s, and Thomas Curry was at 2-over 73. Only the top four scores count in the team scoring. “After a slow start, Erich and John got us going in the right direction with an eagle and a birdie on No. 14, our fifth hole,” McMakin said. “Starting on hole 10, we knew we needed to play well early because you could score better on the back nine, and the front nine had played tough the first two rounds. We were able to climb the leaderboard enough after nine holes, then hit some quality shots coming down the stretch to advance.” A trio of Arkansas golfers finished in the top 20, led by Fortlage, who rocketed up the leaderboard on Wednesday to finish at 6-under and in a tie for fifth.

Daly finished tied for 13th at 4-under par for the three rounds, and Gomez was 18th at 3-under. The NCAA Championships will begin May 29 in Carlsbad, California, at the Omni La Costa Resort – North Course. The 30-team field will be cut to 15 after three rounds of stroke play, and the top 8 after the fourth round of stroke play will advance to play for the team championship with a match play format. The Razorbacks had missed the NCAA Championships the past two years.