Arkansas Makes Ninth Straight Regional Appearance

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The 21st-ranked Arkansas men’s golf team earned its ninth straight NCAA Regional bid under head coach Brad McMakin on Thursday, as all six regions were unveiled live during the Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive.” The Razorbacks were selected to the Kohler Wisconsin Regional at Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys Course as the No. 4 seed with teams playing May 16-18.

The top five teams from all six regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championships held at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Oregon. The low individual from each region that is not on one of the five advancing teams will also earn a berth in the NCAA Championships.

The Kohler Regional features eight of the top 50 teams in the country, including No. 4 Illinois, No. 10 Florida State and fellow Southeastern Conference member No. 16 Florida. The Razorbacks and Gators tied for third at the SEC Championship last month at Sea Island. No. 28 Baylor, No. 33 Penn State, No. 40 Memphis and No. 45 Kent State are all represented in the top 50 in the country.

The Razorbacks will play their first NCAA postseason event in program history in the state of Wisconsin. The Meadow Valleys Course, which features a 7,250 yard, Par 72 layout, was ranked No. 62 in the Golf Digest ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses in 2013-14.

During McMakin’s 10-year stint at the helm of the program, Arkansas has made nine NCAA Regionals and advanced to the NCAA Championship four times in the last seven years, including a runner-up finish in 2009. During the last eight years, the Razorbacks have never gone back-to-back seasons without advancing to the NCAA Championship.

The SEC dominated the field, as 11 of the 81 teams came from the league, including eight of those appearing as top four seeds in their respective regional.

Arkansas enters the postseason playing its best golf of the year after posting its highest SEC Championship finish in eight years and recording a spring head-to-head record of 71-23-3. Checking in at No. 21 in the latest Golfstat Top 25 Poll, the Razorbacks have finished in the top five in seven of the last nine tournaments, led by a team-best 71.4 stroke average from Taylor Moore, while Nicolas Echavarria is second at 72.3. Alvaro Ortiz averages 72.8 strokes per round and Kolton Crawford (73.4) and Charles Kim (73.8) round out the starting five.

Moore continues to etch his name among the best players in program history after earning All-SEC honors for the third time this week to become just the third Razorback to do so. He is one of five players in the league to earn All-SEC honors three times in the last four years.

2016 NCAA Kohler Wisconsin Regional Participants

SeedTeamGolfStat Ranking
1.IllinoisNo. 4
2.Florida StateNo. 10
3FloridaNo. 16
4ArkansasNo. 21
5.BaylorNo. 28
6.Penn StateNo. 33
7.MemphisNo. 40
8.Kent StateNo. 45
9.UCLANo. 53
10.East Tenn. StateNo. 58
11.CampbellNo. 65
12.IdahoNo. 108
13.South Dakota St.No. 182

For more information on Arkansas men’s golf, follow @RazorbackMGolf on Twitter.