Ortiz earns PING All-American honor from golf coaches

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas men’s golf senior Alvaro Ortiz was selected to the PING All-American team the Golf Coaches Association announced on Thursday.

The honor is the first for Ortiz who also earned back-to-back PING Central Region honors as a junior and senior.

Ortiz paced the Razorbacks with a 71.24 stroke average in 14 tournaments. The senior from Zapopan, Mexico, posted five top-10 finishes this season including playing to a T-1st at the Southern Intercollegiate in the spring. He counted 21 rounds under par and lead the team with 150 birdies in his final year.

Ortiz was a big part of Arkansas’ success in 2017-18. He battled back from a tough start at the Southeastern Conference Championship firing a final round 68 to propel the Razorbacks into match play at Sea Island Golf Club.

He was solid through the first two rounds of NCAA Regional play but again dropped low with a 69 in round three helping Arkansas move up the leaderboard to qualify for the NCAA Championship.

Arkansas wrapped up the season ranked No. 18 in the Golfstat.com rankings with Ortiz checking in at No. 48 in the nation. Arkansas was No. 17 in the final Golfweek.com standings and Ortiz finished No. 47 overall.