UA COMMUNICATIONS
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – For the second straight tournament, Arkansas not only had to battle a strong field but strong winds. The Razorbacks ended day one with a score of 288 (+8) and sit in 11th place opening round in the stroke-play portion of the 2022 SEC Men’s Golf Championships, played Wednesday at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course (par 70, 7,005 yards).
Vanderbilt leads the field at -7 (273) and was joined by three other teams at under-par in round one including Georgia (-4), LSU (-3) and Texas A&M (-1).
The Razorbacks had a solid start with Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, Julian Perico and Segundo Oliva Pinto each standing at 1-under through six holes. However, the three each took a bogey on the seventh hole, which played over par for the day and ranked as the seventh-hardest hole.
Arkansas regained its form over the four holes with a combined 13 pars and four birdies. All five Razorbacks finished the round with a par on 18, which proved to be a tough hole as well. The final hole was the fifth-toughest hole and played 0.23 strokes over par.
Luke Long leads the Razorback contingent as he is tied for 20th. He reeled off 11 pars to start his round before dropping shots on holes 12 and 14. He answered with a birdie on 15 before closing the round with three pars for an opening-round, 1-over-par 71. Long’s 15 pars were the second-best total in the field on day one behind two players with 16.
Fernandez de Oliveira and Perico are each tied for 34th at +2 (72). Fernandez de Oliveira had 13 pars and a birdie while Perico led the Razorbacks with three birdies in round one.
Oliva Pinto, the reigning SEC Champion, is tied for 42nd (+3). He was even at the turn with two birdies and two bogeys before playing the back nine at +3 for a 73. Wil Gibson is tied for 57th after an opening-round 75. Gibson played the two par 5’s at 1-under, which tied for the second-best score with two players at -2.
Round two of three of the stroke-play portion is set for Thursday and the final 18 holes on Friday. The top eight teams after stroke play will advance to the match play on Saturday.