Razorback men’s golf team prepares for NCAA Championship

The Arkansas men’s golf team is going to Scottsdale, Arizona to participate in their third consecutive and 26th overall NCAA Tournament. 

The Arkansas men’s golf team is headed to Scottsdale, Arizona, to participate in their third consecutive and 26th overall NCAA Tournament. 

The Razorbacks have made the top-15 cut after three rounds for the third straight year. They finished 11th in 2021 and ninth in 2022.

The Hogs finished as runner-ups at the NCAA Salem Regional, thanks to a record-setting performance. The group set new program records for the lowest 18, 36, and 54 holes. In addition, its 45-under-par score ranked fifth-best in NCAA Regional history.

Ranked 28th, Arkansas sends a veteran group including Wil Gibson, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, Segundo Oliva Pinto, and Julian Perico. All five have played in at least one NCAA Championship.

Stroke play for the Hogs begins Friday with a 9:27 a.m. tee time with Baylor and Duke. GOLF Channel will have coverage each afternoon during the four rounds of stroke play.

Tournament Field:

#1 Vanderbilt, #2 North Carolina, #3 Illinois, #4 Arizona State (Host), #5 Texas Tech, #6 Stanford, #7 Florida State, #8 Pepperdine, #9 Florida, #10 Oklahoma, #11 Georgia Tech, #12 Auburn, #14 Texas A&M, #15 Alabama, #16 Virginia, #17 Texas, #18 Mississippi State, #19 Oregon, #22 Colorado State, #23 Ohio State, #25 Georgia, #28 Arkansas, #30 Baylor, #33 Duke, #35 East Tennessee State, #37 BYU, #40 San Francisco, #41 Chattanooga, #46 New Mexico, #48 Colorado

Arkansas to play in tough Salem Regional in Golf NCAA Tourney

Arkansas Golf looks to make it out of the NCAA Tournament Salem Region.

The Razorbacks veteran club will have a tough time in the regional round to make another at the NCAA championships in three weeks.

Arkansas men’s golf team will travel to Salem, South Carolina, to play The Cliffs at Keowee Falls, about 25 miles from the Clemson campus. As the sixth seed, they will join the region’s top seeds North Carolina, ACC champion Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, San Diego State, and Georgia Southern.

“What are we, a six seed?” said 2021 SEC individual champion Segundo Oliva Pinto. “We know we have a competitive regional and there’s a lot of good teams there. We’re going there to dominate. That’s our idea, to make it through no matter what.”

The list of players traveling includes Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, Will Gibson, Julian Perico, Manuel Lozada, and Pinto.

This is the 15th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament for Arkansas under head coach Brad McMakin. The Hogs barely qualified for the tournament after finishing 10th in the SEC tournament. However, McMakin is confident that his group can compete with anyone in the region despite the level of competition.

And the players are excited about the opportunity.

“I think we’re going to have a blast,” said Pinto, the SEC individual champion two years ago. “We were determined to make it anywhere we were sent to, and this place is no exception.

The rest of the field includes Purdue, New Mexico, host Clemson, Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Northern Illinois, Long Island University and Longwood.

“It’s a good region,” McMakin said. “There’s a lot of good teams. I just feel like if we play well we can play with anybody. That’s the mindset.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01fc3h383th881vsf1 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]