The No. 13 University of Arkansas men’s golf team fired rounds of 2-under 282 and even par 284 on Monday to stand in fifth place after two rounds of the Valspar Collegiate in Palm City, Fla.
The Razorbacks’ 284 in tough scoring conditions in the second round was among only five rounds of even par or better on the 7,114-yard, par 71 Floridian Course.
No. 11 Florida State leads the loaded field by six shots at 10 under, followed by Wake Forest (-4), No. 3 Vanderbilt (-3) and No. 4 Arizona State (-3), then the Razorbacks and No. 14 Oklahoma (-1).
Arkansas senior Christian Castillo shot a 4-under 67 in the morning round then carded a 70 to tie for third place at 5 under. Senior Jacob Skov Olesen, ranked No. 14 in the NCAA, turned in rounds of 68 and 73 to reach 1 under and a tie for 14th. Fellow senior John Driscoll is a stroke back at even par and tied for 19th after shooting rounds of 72 and 70.
Razorback junior Manuel Lozada rebounded from an opening-round 75 to card a 71 and he stands in a tie for 44th at 4 over. Freshman Thomas Curry had non-counting rounds of 79 and 73 and is tied for 76th at 10 over.
Florida State’s Luke Clanton has the second-round lead at 9-under 133, two shots better than North Carolina’s Austin Greaser. Castillo is in a tie with Arizona State’s Wenyi Ding, Oklahoma’s Ben Lorenz and Wake Forest’s Marshall Meisel.
The Razorbacks will be looking for their seventh top 4 finish out of eight events in Tuesday's final round, which will begin with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. Central.
No. 1 North Carolina is in seventh place at 1 over, followed by No. 23 Texas A&M (+5) and No. 6 Alabama (+10), with Texas Tech (+11) and South Florida (+11) rounding out the top 10.
No. 18 Texas fell six spots with a 293 in the afternoon round and is in 14th at 13 over.