Razorbacks Look To Defend Gator Invite Title
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas men’s golf team will look to open its spring season the same way it did last year when it won the SunTrust Gator Invitational. The Razorbacks are part of a 14-team field that will take Mark Bostick Golf Course at 7 a.m. CT on Saturday with a 36-hole opening day.
Live scoring is available for all three rounds at www.GolfStat.com or via the GolfStat Live app. The field, which features three teams in the Golfweek’s latest top 25, will face a 6,701-yard, par 70 layout.
Arkansas will use its fourth different lineup of the year, led by the junior trio of Kolton Crawford, Nicolas Echavarria and Taylor Moore who were all part of the five-man squad that won the 2014 SunTrust Gator Invitational. Echavarria finished the fall with a team-low 72.2 stroke average and during the winter break posted a 19th place finish at the Latin America Amateur Championship while representing Colombia. Moore posted three top 20s in four fall events and carried that momentum to a fourth place finish at the Saguaro Amateur in January.
Freshman Alvaro Ortiz joined Echavarria at the Latin America Amateur Championship in Argentina and nearly came from six strokes behind in the final round with five-under 67 to tie for third. Ortiz’s performance was no surprise, as he turned in a counting score in each of his nine rounds played in the fall.
During last year’s run to the title at the SunTrust Gator Invitational, the Razorbacks finished the 36-hole opening day with a three-stroke lead and expanded it to a six-stroke win behind current Web.com Tour pro Sebastian Cappelen and Moore. Cappelen and Moore both posted two-under 68s in the final round.
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@RazorbackMGolf Lineup (Stroke Average)
Taylor Moore, Jr. (72.5)
Kolton Crawford, R-Jr. (73.7)
Alvaro Ortiz, Fr. (72.6)
Nicolas Echavarria, Jr. (72.2)
Zach Coats, R-So. (76.7)
Emil Soegaard, Fr. (75.4) – Individual
@RazorbackMGolf Lineup Quick Nine
• Four of five players in the lineup had a stroke average under 74 in the fall.
• Arkansas is ranked No. 49 by Golfweek.
• A different player finished as the low-man in all four fall events.
• Moore and Crawford are the only two Razorbacks in the lineup for all five events this year.
• Moore and Crawford posted a team-best four under-par rounds in the fall.
• Moore will make his 31st straight start to open his career.
• Over the last two fall tournaments, Moore was five-under and Echavarria played even-par.
• Echavarria had a 69.3 stroke average in the first round over three fall tournaments.
• Echavarria has finished under-par in three of his last six rounds.
• Ortiz has a counting score in all nine career collegiate rounds.
SunTrust Gator Invitational Field (Golfweek Top 25)
Arkansas (RV)
Charleston
Florida
Florida State
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Jacksonville
Liberty
Mercer
North Florida
UAB
UCF
USF (22)
Vanderbilt (5)
