#11 Razorbacks Have Round of the Day at SEC, Finished Stroke Play T4
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Led by the best individual round of the day from Razorback freshman Thomas Curry (a 5-under-par 65), the #11 Arkansas men’s golf team had the best team round of the day at the 2024 SEC Championship, shooting an 8-under 272, and moved up four spots to tie for fourth and advance to this weekend’s match play at Sea Island Golf Club – Seaside Course (par 70).
In fact,
• The 65 by Curry was the second-lowest round by Hog at the SEC Championship as three others (Segundo Oliva Pinto, Sebastian Cappelen and Bud Still) each shot 64.
• The 272 team total on Friday is the second-lowest single round by the Razorbacks at the SEC Championship. (268 is the best)
• The -8 score in relation to par on Friday tied for the second-lowest by the Razorbacks at the SEC Championship. (-9 in the best).
• The 829 team total for 54 holes shatters the UA best for three rounds at the SEC Championship. (Previous best was 834).
• The -11 score in relation to par for 54 holes is the best by the Razorbacks at the SEC Championship. (Previous was -9)
“Today was one of the best rounds we’ve played all year under the circumstances,” head coach Brad McMakin said. “We will have a lot of momentum going into tomorrow and we look forward to playing a great team in Georgia. I am very pleased with everyone’s effort this week. It was a great, all-round team performance.”
Arkansas will face Georgia, who tied the Razorbacks for fourth after stroke play, Saturday morning in the quarterfinals of the match play portion of the SEC Championship. Curry will be the first man out for the Razorbacks at 6:30 am (CT), followed by Matthis Lefevre, Christian Castillo, John Driscoll III and Jacob Skov Olesen. The winner will advance to the semifinals Saturday afternoon and face the winner of Auburn vs Alabama. The other quarterfinal matches will be Tennessee vs Texas A&M and Vanderbilt vs Florida.
The semifinals will be streamed on SEC Network + starting at 3 pm (CT).
While Arkansas will advance to match play, the Razorbacks will be credited for its ninth top-4 finish in 10 events this season and Jacob Skov Olesen records his ninth-straight, top-15 finish of the season. Also, with its tie for fourth finish, Arkansas improves to 32-9-1(.774) versus SEC teams this season.
The nation’s top-ranked team, Auburn, and #7 Tennessee tied for the lead after stroke play at -14 (826) and Auburn will be the top seed during match play. The Tigers climbed three spots into the lead with a 4-under 276 while the Volunteers jumped four spots with a 5-under 275. #3 Vanderbilt was +2 in the final round and finished third at -13 (827). Arkansas and #23 Georgia, who fell two spots, finished at -11 and edged #15 Florida by one stroke. Rounding out the top eight were #22 Texas A&M (-8) and #9 Alabama (-2).
Curry played a huge role in the Razorbacks success as he was 5-under and the team was 8-under for the day. He rocketed 29 spots up the leaderboard to record his best finish of the season by tying for 11th (71-71-65=207 / -3). His 65 was also the best of his rookie season. After a par on his opening hole, Curry had a bogey on hole 2. After six straight pars, Curry birdied the par-4, 9th to make the turn at even. He then birdied holes 11, 12 and 15 to get to -3 fro the day. Then, on the 407-yard, par-4 16th hole, Curry holed out from the fairway, hitting a 50-degree wedge from 114 yards, for an eagle. He closed his round with two pars to record his 5-under 65.
As mentioned, Olesen claimed his ninth-straight, top-15 finish by tying Curry for 11th (69-69-70=207 / -3). He had three bogeys and three birdies in the final round for an even-par 70. In 10 events (29 rounds) he now has 14 rounds in the 60’s and 22 rounds at par or better.
Lefevre carded a bogey-free 68 in the final round with 16 pars and birdies on holes 2 and 13. He jumped 16 spots and tied for 17th with a 1-under 209 (71-70-68). Thanks to his clean scorecard on Friday, Lefevre was second in the field with 41 pars over 54 holes.
Driscoll carded his second straight round of 69 and moved up 10 spots to tie for 23rd (72-69-69=210 / Even). He front nine Friday was up-and-down with one par, five bogies and three birdies. However, he was bogey-free on his inward nine with three birdies to finish with his 1-under 69.
Castillo finished tied for 41st at +3 for the Championship (69-70-74=213).
SEC Championship
Stroke: April 24-26
Match Quarter/Semi: April 27
Match Championship April 28
Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course) || St. Simons Island, Ga.
Par 70 || 7,005 yards
Final Results Thru Stroke Play:
T1 #1 Auburn 274- 276-267=826 (-14)
T1 #7 Tennessee 277-274-275=826 (-14)
3 #2 Vanderbilt 269-276-282=827 (-13)
T4 #11 Arkansas 279-278-272=829 (-11)
T4 #23 Georgia 270-279-280=829 (-11)
6 #15 Florida 279-270281=830 (-10)
7 #22 Texas A&M 276-278-278=832 (-8)
8 #9 Alabama 283-272-283=838 (-2)
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9 #5 Ole Miss 281-280-288=849 (+9)
10 #38 Mississippi State 288-281-284=853 (+13)
11 #85 Kentucky 283-287-289=859 (+19)
12 #60 South Carolina 287-278-296=861 (+21)
13 #35 LSU 293-286-295=874 (+34)
14 #36 Missouri 290-292-297=879 (+39)
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