ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Arkansas played the second nine holes 9-under par Friday, vaulting up six spots on the leaderboard and qualifying for match play at the 2018 SEC Championship.
The Razorbacks opened the day in 11th place but played to a 6-under 274 moving up into a tie for fifth place by day’s end.
The top eight teams advance to match play beginning on Saturday. Teams will play a morning match with the four winning teams returning to the course for an afternoon match.
That cuts the field to two teams who will meet on Sunday to determine the league champion.
Sophomore William Buhl paced the Razorbacks and finished T3 overall shooting 207.
His rounds of 70-68-69 were all even or under-par and his finish is the best at the league championship since Sebastian Cappelen’s win in 2013.
It is the ninth top-10 individual finish at the SEC Championship under head coach Brad McMakin.
Buhl and the Razorbacks opened their day on the back nine at Sea Island Golf Club and he struggled early in the round turning at plus-4.
Five birdies on the second nine sent him to the clubhouse with a 1-under 69.
Mason Overstreet, Alvaro Ortiz and Luis Garza all tied or bettered their previous round scores in the final day of stroke play.
Overstreet was nearly flawless in his round three 66, tying for the best score of the day.
His scorecard had five birdies and one bogey as he moved up 19 spots while helping the Razorbacks climb the leaderboard. Overstreet finished T16 shooting 211 with rounds of 71-74-66.
Ortiz and Garza also moved up in the final round on Friday. Ortiz collected five birdies and Garza added four in his round as the duo finished T36 shooting 217.
Tyson Reeder rounded out the Razorback scoring shooting 73-72-78=223 and finishing T59.
The No.11 LSU Tigers finished first in stroke play and were nine shots better than the rest of the field. The rest of the top-8 included No. 4 Vanderbilt and No. 7 Florida tied with 834.
No. 6 Alabama, No. 9 Auburn and No. 16 Arkansas all tied for fifth with 848 and No. 34 Ole Miss and No. 2 Texas A&M rounding out the top eight shooting 851.
The Lineup
| PLACE | PLAYER | SCORE | TO PAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| T3 | William Buhl (4) | 70–68–69—207 | -3 |
| T16 | Mason Overstreet (2) | 71–74–66—211 | +1 |
| T36 | Alvaro Ortiz (1) | 75–74–68—217 | +7 |
| T36 | Luis Garza (3) | 75–71–71—217 | +7 |
| T59 | Tyson Reeder (5) | 73–72–78—223 | +13 |
The Field
| PLACE | TEAM | SCORE | TO PAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No. 11 LSU | 281-276-277=834 | -6 |
| T2 | No. 7 Florida | 293-278-272=843 | +3 |
| No. 4 Vanderbilt | 276-283-284=843 | +3 | |
| T4 | No. 9Auburn | 280-286-282=848 | +8 |
| No. 16 Arkansas | 289-285-274=848 | +8 | |
| No. 6 Alabama | 283-280-385=848 | +8 | |
| T7 | No. 34 Ole Miss | 288-277-386=851 | +11 |
| No. 2 Texas A&M | 296-277-278=851 | +11 | |
| 9 | No. 50 Tennessee | 280-290-284=854 | +14 |
| 10 | No. 19 Kentucky | 286-283-287=856 | +16 |
| 11 | Georgia | 291-282-289=862 | +22 |
| 12 | Mississippi State | 293-284-287=864 | +24 |
| 13 | No. 38 South Carolina | 288-287-290=865 | +25 |
| 14 | No. 39 Missouri | 287-296-290=873 | +33 |
Match Play Pairings
1 LSU-8 Texas A&M
2 Florida-7 Ole Miss (with a repeat matchup of Zhang and Wegener)
3 Vanderbilt-6 Alabama
4 Auburn-5 Arkansas
Jovan Rebula (AU) vs. Tyson Reeder (Ark.)
Trace Crowe (AU) vs. Luis Garza (Ark.)
Brandon Mancheno (AU) vs. Alvaro Ortiz (Ark.)
Ryan Knop (AU) vs. Mason Overstreet (Ark.)
Wells Padgett (AU) vs. William Buhl (Ark.)
Live Scoring: http://bit.ly/2HzuhjN
Watch: SEC Network at 3 p.m.
