Arkansas Off to Strong Start at NCAA Championship
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Arkansas used its experience of playing desert golf from its two previous years in the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club – Raptor Course to post an opening-day score of 281 (+1) and is in tied for second place with Pepperdine after 18 holes, one shot off leader Georgia Tech.
The Razorbacks were led by Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (66) and Wil Gibson (67), who are in tied for second and fifth, respectively. They combined for 11 birdies as Arkansas tallied 20 to tie Pepperdine for most for round one.
The team score of 281 tied for the third-best, single-round by the Razorbacks at the NCAA Championships, trailing a 271 in 2013 and a pair of 279’s. Fernandez de Oliveira’s 66 is the third-best by a Razorback at nationals behind Nicolas Echavarria’s 64 in round two of 2013 and John Daly’s 65 in round three of 1986. Gibson’s 67 ties for fourth-best in school history at NCAA’s with Tyson Reeder (round two of 2018) and Sebastian Cappelen (round two of 2013).
As for Arkansas’ third year playing the same Grayhawk course, the 281 is the program’s best by four strokes, shooting a 285 in round four of the 2021 Championships, and the scores by Fernandez de Oliveira and Gibson are the top two scores by Razorbacks in the three years at Grayhawk.
“I think it was a great start,” head coach Brad McMakin said. “To have two guys shoot a combined 7-under, on this golf course, was truly remarkable. Obviously, we would have liked to avoid some of the bigger numbers, but that is going to happen out here. You are going to hit a ball in the desert but you have to just find a way how to minimize your mistakes. I think, this being our third year out here, we know how to do that. Overall, I thought our team played really well.”
Fernandez de Oliveira and Gibson both birdied the difficult 18th hole to post their impressive rounds. In fact, hole 18 played as the toughest for round one with the duo getting two of the 13 birdies on the hole for the day.
Fernandez de Oliveira was 3-under after six holes before dropping a shot on the par-4, 7th. However, after a par on eight, he made an impressive par to close his front nine. He pulled his tee shot left into the desert and his ball came to rest under a small bush with no play. But, his ball was also on an animal hole and the rules official granted him a free drop. He came up short on his second shot and his third ended up about 35 feet from the hole. Fernandez de Oliveira, who said he putted great in round one, drained the long putt to save par.
Later, he missed the green on 13, but chipped in to get back to 3-under and moved to 4-under after a birdie on 16. On 17, his drive embedded into the ground but rallied salvage bogey. He closed the round by hitting his approach shot on 18 to within five feet then sank the putt for birdie and a round of 67 (-4).
“I got off to a really good start and that gave me a lot of,” Fernandez de Oliveira said. “I had a bad bogey after a good tee shot on number seven but I got a really good break on nine and was able to make a long putt to save par. I chipped in on 13 which gave me a little bump in my spirits for the last few holes. Then I got another big break on 17 that led to a really good bogey. I then closed my round with the best shot of the day to finish with a birdie.
“Playing in the desert, you have to stay patient and keep a level head. You can get really good breaks or you may have to take an unplayable (penalty). You just have to keep cool and figure out what shot you are going to play next.”
Gibson made a downhill birdie putt on the second hole but had a bogey on the third hole. He bounced back with birdies on holes five and seven to make the turn at -2. After a string of pars, Gibson birdied the par-4, 14th only to give that shot back with bogey on 15. He rolled in a 15-foot putt to post his 3-under round of 67.
“I knew I was going to have to stay patient today based off my experience from last year,” Gibson said. “I had a few times where the round could have gotten away from me but I was able to work through those situations. Overall, I was very happy with how I played and how I was able to fight through on a tough course like this.”
Julian Perico and Segundo Oliva Pinto both shot 74 (-+4) and are tied for 87th. Manuel Lozada is tied for 115th after an opening round 76 (+6). All three had stretches of solid play, but all three also had that one hole that kept them from posting lower totals.
Arkansas will play in the afternoon wave on Saturday (May 27) with tee times starting at 2:47 pm (CT) off hole 10.
2023 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships
Location: Grayhawk Golf Club – Raptor Course || Scottsdale, Ariz.
Par: 70 • Yards: 7,28 yards
Team Results:
1 #11 Georgia Tech 280 / E
T2 #28 Arkansas 281 / +1
T2 #8 Pepperdine 281 / +1
T4 #2 North Carolina 282 / +2
T4 #5 Texas Tech 282 / +2
T4 #1 Vanderbilt 282 / +2
7 #9 Florida 283 / +3
8 #7 Florida State. 284 / +4
T9 #25 Georgia 285 / +5
T9 #3 Illinois 285 / +5
T9 #40 San Francisco 285 / +5
T12 #10 Oklahoma 287 / +7
T12 #23 Ohio State 287 / +7
14 #12 Auburn 288 / +8
T15 #14 Texas A&M 289 / +9
T15 #37 BYU 289 / +9
T17 #15 Alabama 290 / +10
T17 #33 Duke 292 / +10
T17 #16 Virginia 292 / +10
T17 #6 Stanford 292 / +10
T21 #4 Arizona State 291 / +11
T21 #18 Mississippi State 291 / +11
T23 #19 Oregon 292 / +12
T23 #48 Colorado 292 / +12
25 #46 New Mexico 293 / +13
26 #41 Chattanooga 294 / +14
27 #17 Texas 295 / +15
28 #22 Colorado State 296 / +16
29 #35 East Tennessee State 302 / +22
30 #30 Baylor 304 / +24
For more information on Arkansas Men’s Golf, follow @RazorbackMGolf on Twitter.
