Brooke Matthews came up big for the University of Arkansas at the SEC Women's Golf Championships on Friday, rolling in a 4-foot birdie on the par-5 18th hole to send the Razorbacks into today's match play at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.
The No. 16 Razorbacks had a roller-coaster day, with a hot start leading a surge to third place, then a long dry stretch dropping them two strokes out of a tie for the eighth and final spot in match play with just a few holes left.
Arkansas freshman Cory Lopez started the late surge with a birdie on 18 after knocking a 6 iron to 30 feet and two-putting.
The Razorbacks still needed more scoring to avoid a playoff for the final spot, and Matthews, the junior from Rogers, provided it. She rolled in a 10-foot putt on the par-4 16th to get Arkansas to 11 under and in a tie with No. 24 Florida and Tennessee. Matthews then two-putted from 50 feet on the par-3 17th to set up her heroics on the final hole.
Prior to the late birdies, the Razorbacks struggled on the back nine with 11 bogeys and a double bogey against two birdies to drop back.
Arkansas finished three days of stroke play at 12-under 852, setting up today's 7:50 a.m. match with No. 1 seed LSU, who fired an 18 under on Friday to reach 46 under in match play.
Matthews completed stroke play at 9 under, eight shots behind medalist Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of South Carolina.
Lopez and Arkansas sophomore Ela Anacona fired even-par 72s on Friday and tied for 28th. Sophomore Kajal Mistry was at 2 under through five holes, but wound up with a nonscoring 5 over on the day and tied for 50th at 4 over. Sophomore Julia Gregg had a 4 over on Friday and wound up at 15 over in 67th place.
The other morning match play pairings are 2 seed South Carolina vs. 7 seed Alabama at 7 a.m.; 3 seed Auburn vs. 6 seed Vanderbilt at 7 a.m.; and 4 seed Ole Miss vs. 5 seed Mississippi State at 7:50 a.m.