Razorback 6th at the Carmel Cup Opening Round

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Arkansas opened the 2025-26 season by shooting a 4-over-par 364 and sitting in sixth place at the Carmel Cup, played at Spyglass Hill Golf Course (par 72).

Vanderbilt leads the eight-team field after posting an 8-under 352. However, only nine strokes separate second to eighth places. TCU was the only other team shooting under par on Friday and sits in second at -2. Top-ranked Oklahoma State is third at +1 while Mississippi State and Oklahoma are tied for fourth at +3. The Razorbacks are at +4, followed by Texas Tech (+5) and Georgia (+7).

Erich Fortlage led Arkansas in round one. The sophomore, who was the team’s top performer during qualifying, continued his strong play with a 1-under 71. Fortlage started slowly with bogeys on holes 2 and 4. However, he got back to even with birdies on holes 9 and 11. Fortlage dropped a shot on 12 before carding birdies on holes 16 and 17 for his 71.

A trio of Razorbacks – Cam Smith, Gerardo Gomez and Thomas Curry – turned in rounds of 73 and are tied for 23rd at +1. Niilo Maki-Petaja is tied for 29th at +2 (74) and John Daly II is tied for 36th at +4 (76).

Round two of three at the Carmel Cup is set for tomorrow. The Razorbacks will be a part of the second wave of tee times with Cam Smith getting the team started at 12:58 pm (CT).

Carmel Cup
Aug. 29-31, 2025
Host: Texas Tech
Spyglass Hill Golf Course
Pebble Beach, Calif.
Par 72 — 6,975  yards

Results Thru Rd1
  1  #12 Vanderbilt  352 / -8
2  #38 TCU  358 / -2
3  #1 Oklahoma State  361 / +1
T4  #42 Mississippi State  363 / +3
T4  #8 Oklahoma  363 / +3
  6  #34 Arkansas  364 / +4
  7 #15 Texas Tech  365 / +5
8  #23 Georgia  367 / +7

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