PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Redshirt junior Kolton Crawford fired his second straight two-under par 70 and was joined by two other Razorbacks in red numbers, as the No. 21 Arkansas men’s golf team produced a five-man score of one-under 359 to sit in sixth place after the second day of the competitive eight-team Carmel Cup held at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Crawford, who made the turn at three-under, is just three strokes off the lead and in a four-way tie for fourth place. Arkansas’ low-man at the NCAA Columbia Regional last spring, Crawford’s back-to-back 70s make him one of just three players in the field to shoot 70 or lower in each of the first two rounds.
Arkansas was one of six teams in the field to finish under-par on the day, improving on its first round score by two strokes to move to even-par 720 for the tournament. No. 5 Georgia (710) will enter the final round with a one stroke lead over TCU and Texas Tech (711). Teams 2-6 in the standings are all within 10 strokes.
Crawford’s team low round of two-under 70 was backed up for the second straight day by a one-under 71 from freshman Alvaro Ortiz. Making his first collegiate start, Ortiz put together his second straight 71 thanks to back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th holes, respectively, to move into a large group tied for ninth place.
Junior Taylor Moore made it three Razorbacks in red numbers with a 71, improving on his first round 73 by two strokes. Now at even-par for the tournament, Moore owns a share of 21st place as he’ll look to finish inside the top 20 for the 14th time in his career.
Arkansas will get its final round at the Carmel Cup underway on Sunday morning when it takes the first tee from 9:10-10:00 a.m. Live scoring is available at www.Golfstat.com or by downloading the Golfstat app. Scores will be updated every nine holes.
For more information on Arkansas men’s golf, follow @RazorbackMGolf on Twitter.
#RazorStat Of The Day
Out of the six players in the Arkansas lineup, four carded back-to-back birdies during the second round while all six have done so at least once in the tournament. Crawford had three straight on the front side on Saturday, while junior Gonzalo Rubio accomplished the same feat on Friday.
@RazorbackMGolf Quick Hits
• Over his last eight rounds dating back to the spring, Crawford has finished under-par four times.
• Crawford leads the team with nine birdies and is one shy of reaching double figure birdies for the seventh time in his last eight events.
• Crawford carded his 200th career birdie on the par 3 7th hole.
• Moore’s under-par round is the 21st of his career.
• Ortiz has made five bogeys in two rounds, bouncing back with a birdie on the very next hole four times.
• Emil Soegaard is three-under on the front nine through the first two rounds.
@RazorbackMGolf Lineup
T4. Kolton Crawford – 70-70/140 (-4)
T9. Alvaro Ortiz – 71-71/142 (-2)
T21. Taylor Moore – 73-71/144 (E)
T29. Emil Soegaard – 74-73/147
T26. Nicolas Echavarria – 73-75/148
T38. Gonzalo Rubio – 75-74/149
Carmel Cup Standings (GCAA Preseason Ranking)
1. Georgia (5) – 352-358/710 (-10)
T2. TCU – 361-350/711 (-9)
T2. Texas Tech (RV) – 355-356/711 (-9)
4. South Carolina (12) – 362-352/714 (-6)
5. Vanderbilt (16) – 364-353/717 (-3)
6. Arkansas (21) – 361-359/720 (E)
7. Oklahoma – 359-363/722 (+2)
8. Oklahoma State (T1) – 362-373/735 (+15)