The Arkansas women’s golf team climbed to No. 1 in the country in this week’s Golfweek rankings, after winning the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville.
Now the Lady Razorbacks will travel to Dallas to face a loaded field at the third annual Jackson T. Stephens Cup, beginning Monday at the Trinity Forest Golf Club.
After a practice round on Saturday, Arkansas will be facing its toughest challenge of the season, competing against nationally-ranked No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 5 South Carolina, No. 6 Texas and No. 18 Duke.
The teams will tee things off on Monday, playing 36 holes, followed by 18 holes on Tuesday. After the 54 holes of stroke play, the top four teams will advance to Wednesday’s match play round, which will be paired by seeds.
All three days of the tournament will be covered on the Golf Channel in the afternoon slots — Monday, 4-7 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, 3-6 p.m.
The No. 8 Razorback men’s team will also be competing as the highest-ranked team on the men’s side, joining the likes of No. 23 Arizona, No. 24 LSU, No. 28 Florida State, No. 29 SMU, No. 35 San Diego State and No. 49 Stanford.
The Stephens Cup rotates locations annually, bringing together the nation’s top collegiate golfers, competing in world class venues. Widely considered the premier event in college golf, the tournament is named in honor of the late Jackson (Jack) T. Stephens, who was the former Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club.
This year’s field will again feature seven NCAA Division 1 men’s and women’s teams, as well as the leading individual players players from the U.S Military Service Academies and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Both Arkansas teams have gotten off to a stellar starts, sweeping this past week’s tournament at the Blessings. Prior to the final round getting rained out, the women carded an 11-under 565, while the men shot a13-under 563.
The Razorbacks also swept top medalist honors, with freshman sensation Maria José Marin capturing the women’s individual honors and graduate John Driscoll III taking the men’s title.
The Columbian-born José Marin won her event by three strokes with a 10-under 134, carding 16 birdies in 36 holes. In her first collegiate event, last month, she placed second at the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links. She shot a 14-under 205, to match the Arkansas Freshman 54-Hole Record. In her two tournaments, José Marin has logged all five rounds at par or under with four in the 60s. She is currently ranked No. 28 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
In addition to coverage on the Golf Channel, scoring can be followed on www.golfstat.com.