FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks men's golf team won't have to travel far for their NCAA regional appearance, but they did land in a loaded field in Norman, Okla.
The No. 15 Razorbacks were seeded third at the NCAA Norman Regional behind No. 4 Oklahoma and SEC champion No. 9 Auburn, the team that eliminated the Razorbacks 3-2 in the SEC match play quarterfinals last week. The other top seeds in Norman are No. 27 Florida State, No. 26 North Florida and No. 25 Pepperdine.
The field at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club includes six conference champions.
Arkansas Coach Brad McMakin, who helped lead the Sooners to the 1989 NCAA championship during his playing days at Oklahoma, is leading the Razorbacks into their 11th consecutive NCAA regional.
NCAA regionals will be held May 12-14 at six sites: Norman; Raleigh, N.C.; Bryan, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Kissimmee, Fla.; and Stockton, Calif.
SEC teams pulled down three top seeds: No. 3 Texas A&M at the Bryan Regional, No. 2 Vanderbilt at the Kissimmee Regional, and No. 6 LSU at the Stockton Regional, and all 14 SEC teams advanced to the tournament. The other top seeds are No. 8 Georgia Tech in Raleigh and No. 1 Oklahoma State in Columbus.
The top five teams at each of the regionals will comprise the 30-team field that will compete for the NCAA championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., on May 25-30.
Arkansas sophomore William Buhl was the team's top performer at the SEC championships with a tie for third place. Sophomores Mason Overstreet, the NCAA runner up last year, and Tyson Reeder won their matches last week against Auburn, which went on to defeat LSU (4-1) and Alabama (3-2) to claim the SEC title. Senior Alvaro Ortiz and sophomore Luis Garza are also expected to compete for the Razorbacks in Norman.