FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks saved their best golf of the week for the last nine holes of stroke play Friday, and their blazing finish came just in time to assure a spot in the match-play portion of the SEC men’s championships at St. Simons Island, Ga.
Led by William Buhl, the Razorbacks’ four counting scorers played the final nine holes in 9-under par at Sea Island Golf Club to fire a 6 under for the day and tie No. 6 Alabama and No. 9 Auburn for fourth place at 8 over after 54 holes of stroke play.
“The guys showed kind of how they’ve been playing all year,” Coach Brad McMakin said. “Today we came out and played that round that we play every week, when we show we’ve got a lot of firepower.”
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, will be the No. 5 seed and is paired against No. 4 seed Auburn at 7:30 a.m.
LSU earned the No. 1 seed as the only team under par at 6 under, and the Tigers will take on Texas A&M. The other pairings are No. 2 seed Florida vs. No. 7 seed Ole Miss, and No. 3 seed Vanderbilt vs. No. 6 seed Alabama.
Andy Zhang of Florida won a playoff for medalist honors in three holes over Cecil Wegener of Ole Miss. Zhang carded a 4 under Friday, tying for the lowest round of the tournament.
Buhl, a sophomore from Fairhope, Ala., shot a 1 under Friday and tied three other golfers for third place.
“Third place in the SEC championships as a sophomore is fantastic,” McMakin said. “He had 10-footers on the last two holes and if he had made those he would’ve tied for first.”
Arkansas sophomore Mason Overstreet charged up the leaderboard with a 68 on Friday to improve 22 spots and tie for 16th.
Senior Alvaro Ortiz shot 68 and moved up 24 spots to tie sophomore teammate Luis Garza, who had a 1 over Friday, for 36th place. The Razorbacks’ Tyson Reeder wound up tied for 59th at 13 over.
The Razorbacks’ team score of 6-under 274 was the second-lowest round of the tournament behind the 8 under posted by Florida on Friday.
Arkansas carded 48 birdies, second only to No. 2 Texas A&M through three rounds. The Razorbacks led the field in scoring on par 5s at 15 under, three strokes better than Florida.