The No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks were eliminated from the SEC men’s golf championships Saturday with a 3-2 loss to No. 9 Auburn in the morning quarterfinals of match play at St. Simons Island, Ga.
The Tigers went on to face No. 1 seed LSU in a semifinal at the 7,005-yard par 70 Sea Island Golf Club, while the Razorbacks returned to Fayetteville to await their NCAA regional at-large assignment.
The tight match went down to the final pairing, where Auburn freshman Wells Padgett downed Arkansas sophomore William Buhl 3 and 2 by winning the final two holes at Nos. 6 and 7.
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville sophomore Mason Overstreet had a strong 3-and-2 victory over Ryan Knop. Overstreet fell behind on the opening hole, No. 10, with a bogey, but squared the match on No. 11 with a birdie and never trailed again. Overstreet gained a hole with a birdie on the par-3 No. 12 and another with a par on No. 17. He built his lead further with a par on No. 2 and lost only one more hole the rest of the round.
The Razorbacks opened with a victory, as sophomore Tyson Reeder recovered from losing a 2-hole lead on the final two holes by beating Jovan Rebula with a par on the first extra hole.
Auburn’s Trace Crowe defeated Arkansas sophomore Luis Garza 1 up in the second pairing, and Auburn’s Brandon Mancheno won 2 and 1 over Arkansas senior Alvaro Ortiz in the third pairing as the Tigers squared the match at 2-2.
In the other quarterfinals, No. 11 LSU ousted No. 2 Texas A&M 3-0-2; No. 7 Florida eliminated Ole Miss 3-2; and No. 4 Vanderbilt edged No. 6 Alabama 3-2.
The final will be televised this morning on the SEC Network at a time to be determined.