#8 Arkansas Leads After Opening Round in Spring Opener
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Thanks to shooting 12-underon the inward nine, #8 Arkansas leads after round one in the team’s spring opener at the Watersound Invitational, played at the Third Golf Course at Watersound Club. Overall, the Razorbacks posted an 11-under 269.
Arkansas leads #9 Ole Miss by one stroke and #3 Vanderbilt by four. Mississippi State and #41 Florida State are tied for fourth and seven shots back. #43 TCU is sixth (E) and host #11 Alabama sits in 10th (+5) in the 12-team field.
While the Razorbacks dominated on the holes 10-18, the players started on holes 6-10 for the shotgun start.
Individually, five Razorbacks shot under par.
Erich Fortlage led the way and is in third after carding a 4-under-par 66. The sophomore had a bogey on his first hole, the par-3, 8th. However, he finished his round with birdies on 11, 13, 15, 17 and 5 to post his 66.
Niilo Maki-Petaja and Thomas Curry are tied for sixth at -3 (67).
Maki-Peteja was three under and bogey-free through 13 holes. However, he dropped a shot on the par-4, 4th before bouncing back with a birdie on the par-5, 5th. He closed his round with pars on holes 6, 7 and 8.
Curry, playing as an individual, shared the lead through nine holes. He started on hole 11 with a birdie and added birdies on holes 15 and 17. He offset bogeys on holes 4 and 7 with birdies on holes 3 and 5 to post his 3-under 67.
Cam Smith also shared the lead through nine holes at -3. He started on hole 10 and birdied holes 11, 15 and 16. He added a birdie on hole 5 to get to -4 but dropped shots on holes 7 and 9 to finish with a 2-under 68. Gerardo Gomez also fired a 68 and is tied for 13th with Smith.
All six Razorbacks birdied the par-5, 15th and five of the six birdied the par-5, 5th.
The Invitational will continue with 18 holes on Tuesday and conclude with 18 holes on Wednesday.
Watersound Invitational
Host: Alabama
Third Golf Course at Watersound Club
Panama City Beach, Fla.
Par: 71 • 7,209 yards
Format: 5 count 4 ||18 holes each day
Results Thru Rd1:
1 #8 Arkansas 269 / -11
2 #9 Ole Miss 270 / -10
3 #3 Vanderbilt 273 / -7
T4 #41 Florida State 276 / -4
T4 Mississippi State 276 / -4
6 #43 TCU 280 / E
T7 Kentucky 281 / +1
T7 Navy 281 / +1
9 Michigan State 282 / +2
10 #11 Alabama 285 / +5
11 Ohio State 286 / +6
12 Ohio State 287 / +7
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