VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. – Led by the trio of Taylor Moore, Nicolas Echavarria and Alvaro Ortiz who are all in the top 10, the Arkansas men’s golf team finished the 36-hole first day of the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in a tie for fourth place in the 12-team field on Monday.
All three of the aforementioned players carded an under-par round on the day and make Arkansas the only team in the field with three players in the top seven of the individual standings. The Razorbacks produced the second-best round in the morning with a 282 and finished up with a 287 to sit in a three-way tie for fourth.
Arkansas is just six strokes out of second place, while host and No. 14 Alabama holds a 10-stroke leading entering Tuesday’s final round. The 12-team field taking on the par 70, 7,209-yard layout of the Old Overton Club features four ranked teams and three others that received votes in the latest GCAA Top 25 poll.
Moore posted the team’s low round of the day with a three-under 67 in the morning before finishing up with a 71 in the afternoon to sit in sole possession of sixth place. An All-Central Region selection a year ago, Moore is just four strokes off the lead and his 36-hole opening day featured six birdies and 26 pars.
Returning to the lineup after representing their respective countries at the World Amateur Team Championship in Japan, Echavarria and Ortiz finished the two rounds at even-par and in a tie for seventh place. Echavarria joined Moore in red numbers in the first round with a one-under 69 and also supplied a 71 in the afternoon, playing the course’s front nine at two-under. Ortiz joined Echavarria in seventh place thanks to a team-low one-under 69 in the second round and a team-best nine birdies over the 36 holes.
The Razorbacks will be paired with UAB and UNLV for Tuesday’s final round beginning at 8 a.m. Live scoring is available at www.Golfstat.com or on the Golfstat Live app. For more information on Arkansas men’s golf, follow @RazorbackMGolf on Twitter.
#RazorStat Of The Day
After a pair of double-bogeys in his first three holes to start the second round, Ortiz responded with three straight birdies on holes 14-16 and played the final 15 holes bogey-free at five-under. Over his first five career collegiate rounds, Ortiz has finished under-par three times.
@RazorbackMGolf Lineup
6. Taylor Moore – 67-71/138 (-2)
T7. Nicolas Echavarria – 69-71/140 (E)
T7. Alvaro Ortiz – 71-69/140 (E)
T51. Kolton Crawford – 75-78/153
T57. Emil Soegaard – 81-76/157
Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate Stadings (GCAA Ranking – Oct. 3)
1. Alabama (14) – 268-285/553 (-7)
T2. Florida State (4) – 290-273/563
T2. Georgia Tech (2) – 285-278/563
T4. Arkansas (RV) – 282-287/569
T4. UNLV (24) – 286-283/569
T4. UAB – 289-280/569
T7. Texas A&M (RV) – 290-290/580
T7. Ole Miss – 304-276/580
T7. Charlotte – 296-284/580
10. Mississippi State – 294-287/581
11. UTSA – 296-289/585
12. Georgia State (RV) – 306-284/590