Razorbacks Ready For NCAA Yale Regional

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Arkansas men’s golf team will make its eighth straight NCAA Regional appearance on Thursday when play opens at The Course At Yale in New Haven, Conn. The Razorbacks are the No. 5 seed in the region and will look to advance to the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in the last six years.

The top five teams after the three rounds of stroke play will advance to the NCAA Championships held at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. from May 29 – June 3. The low individual from each region that is not on one of the five advancing teams will also earn a berth to the NCAA Championships.

Arkansas will begin Thursday’s first round at 7:20 a.m. CT, going off the 10th tee alongside Oklahoma State and San Diego State. Live scoring for all three rounds is available at www.Golfstat.com while fans can follow @RazorbackMGolf on twitter for in-round updates.

Redshirt junior Kolton Crawford and redshirt sophomore Zach Coats own NCAA Regional experience to headline the five-man lineup that will take on the par 70, 6803-yard layout. Arkansas enters the NCAA Yale Regional playing some of its best golf, as it put together a 64-19-1 head-to-head record in the spring, highlighted by the program’s 21st tournament win under head coach Brad McMakin at the Towson Invite. The Razorbacks finished in the top 5 in four of five spring regular season events before a sixth place showing at the SEC Championships which featured 13 teams in the top 100. Arkansas has finished in the top 6 at the SEC Championships seven straight years – the only program to accomplish that feat.

McMakin has led the Razorbacks to a pair second place finishes at NCAA Regionals in each of the last two years with four of the five players in the lineup placing in the top 20 both times. Crawford led Arkansas at last year’s NCAA Columbia Regional, shooting eight-under to pace the Razorbacks’ sizzling 28-under par performance. Crawford’s fifth place showing was the start of six top 5 performances in his last 12 events.

@RazorbackMGolf Lineup (Scoring Average)
Kolton Crawford, R-Jr. (72.2)
Zach Coats, R-So. (74.2)
Alvaro Ortiz, Fr. (73.3)
Gonzalo Rubio, Jr. (76.8)
Alec Tahy, R-Fr.

Crawford Catching Fire
Currently No. 79 in the individual rankings by Golfstat, Crawford leads Arkansas with five top 5s on the year and six of his last 12 events dating back to last year’s NCAA Regional. Crawford posted the program’s lowest 36-hole score at the SEC Championships, carding a five-under 65 followed by a four-under 66. The Mansfield, Texas native has been Arkansas’ low-man in 14 of 29 rounds on the year while posting a 72.2 scoring average that 16 rounds of par or lower and 84 birdies. Crawford’s 11 under-par rounds equal the total from his first two years.

Course Information
The Course At Yale
Location: New Haven, Conn.
Par: 70
Yardage: 6,803

NCAA Yale Regional Field (Order According To Seed)
1. Vanderbilt
2. LSU
3. South Florida
4. Oklahoma State
5. Arkansas
6. San Diego State
7. Iowa
8. NC State
9. Ohio State
10. Troy
11. North Texas
12. College Of Charleston
13. Robert Morris
14. Saint Peter’s

2015 NCAA Regional Sites
Gold Mountain Golf Club – Bremerton, Wash. (University of Washington)
The Course at Yale – New Haven, Conn. (Yale University)
The Farms Golf Club – San Diego, Calif. (University of San Diego)
The Rawls Course – Lubbock, Texas (Texas Tech University)
The Sagamore Club – Noblesville, Ind. (Ball State University)
UNC Finley Golf Course – Chapel, Hill, N.C. (University of North Carolina)