#5 Razorbacks Finish 8th at Arizona N.I.T.

TUSCON, Ariz. – The Arkansas men’s golf program fired a final-round, 8-under-par round of 280 and the fifth-ranked Razorbacks finished eighth (846) at the Arizona N.I.T., played at the par 72, 7,200-yard Omni Tucson National – Catalina Course.

The leader after two rounds, #2 Oklahoma State extended its lead to win by 21 strokes with a 53-under-par total of 811, including a 13-under round in the final round. No. 12 Texas had the best round at -16 and moved up to finish second with a 54-hole total of 832 (-32). The 15-team field had nine teams finish double-digits under par. Including Oklahoma State and Texas, #9 Pepperdine was third (-28; 836) followed by #1 Oklahoma (-27; 837), #30 Arizona (-26; 838), #25 Illinois and #28 New Mexico (-23; 841), #5 Arkansas (-18; 846) and #13 Tennessee (-13; 851),

Luke Long, ranked 33rd nationally, fired a 4-under 68 and moved up six spots to tie for 11th with a three-round total of 208 (69-72-68). He has five top 15 finishes this season, including three in four spring events. The Fayetteville product was 1-over at the turn in the final round but birdied five of his first six holes on the inward nine for his 68. Long has shot par of better in his last 11 rounds, including six rounds in the 60’s. In fact, Long leads the team with 10 rounds in the 60’s this season.

Two other Razorbacks made big jumps in the final round. Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira and Julian Perico each climbed 11 spots to finish tied for 23rd and tied for 43rd, respectively.

Fernandez de Oliveira, ranked 14th nationally, was even at the turn with two birdies and two bogeys. Like Long, Fernandez de Oliveira had a strong back nine with birdies on holes 10, 11, 13 and 17 and carded a 3-under 69 for a 54-hole score of 212 (71-72-69). In 21 rounds this season, he now has a team-best 18 at par or better.

Perico did his damage on the front nine as he birdied four of his first eight holes. He had four bogeys and three birdies over his final 11 holes to shoot a 2-under 70. Perico was tied for the lead by playing the par 5’s at -10.

Wil Gibson tied for 38th after posting a final-round 73 and shooting 214 (70-71-73) for the event. He was four-over after 11 holes but rallied to birdie holes 12, 15, 16 and 18.

Segundo Oliva Pinto, ranked 93rd in the nation, tied for 53rd (69-75-73=217) and Juan Camilo Vesga, playing as an individual, tied for 65th (73-75-71=219.)

Arkansas closes the regular season April 9-10 at Texas A&M’s Aggie Invitational.

ARIZONA N.I.T. TEAM SCORES (FINAL)
  1  #2 Oklahoma State  266-269-276=811 (-53)
2  #12 Texas  280-280-272=832 (-32)
3  #9 Pepperdine  283-277-276=836 (-28)
4  #1 Oklahoma  283-275-279=837 (-27)
5  #30 Arizona  277-279-282=838 (-26)
T6  #28 New Mexico  271-287-283=841 (-23)
T6   #25 Illinois  281-280-280=841 (-23)
  8  #5 Arkansas  279-287-280=846 (-18)
  9  #13 Tennessee  281-286-284=851 (-13)
10  Southern California 279-294-281=855 (-9)
11  San Diego  289-291-279=859 (-5)
T12  Colorado State  292-289283=864 (E)
T12  Wyoming  285-288-291=864 (E)
14  San Diego State  286-291-293=870 (+6)
15  UNLV  289-295-290=874 (+10)

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