Freshman Thomas Curry led a record-breaking day for the University of Arkansas men’s golf team with a rare eagle as the No. 11 Razorbacks capped the final day of stroke play at the SEC Championships on Friday with an 8-under 272 to qualify for match play at St. Simons Island, Ga.
The Razorbacks, who put four golfers in the top 25, completed stroke play at 11-under at Sea Island Golf Club, a program best in relation to par at the SEC Championships. Their 54-hole team score of 829 beat their previous best of 834 at the event.
“Today was one of the best rounds we’ve played all year under the circumstances,” Arkansas Coach Brad McMakin said. “We have a lot of momentum going into [Saturday].”
Curry holed out his second shot on the 407-yard 16th using a 50-degree wedge from 114 yards. Curry’s eagle on the par 4 was part of his blistering 5-under 65 on Friday, the second-lowest round for an Arkansas player at the SEC Championships.
Bud Still, Sebastian Cappelen and Segundo Oliva Pinto are the only Razorbacks with rounds of 64 at the SEC Championships.
The Razorbacks turned in the best round of the day to move up four spots to tie No. 23 Georgia for fourth place and set up a match play quarterfinal with the Bulldogs at 6:30 a.m. Central on Saturday, starting at No. 10.
No. 1 Auburn and No. 7 Tennessee tied for first at 14 under, while No. 2 Vanderbilt was third at 13 under.
Rounding out the match play qualifiers were No. 15 Florida (10 under) in sixth, No. 22 Texas A&M (8 under) in seventh, and Alabama (2 under) in eighth as the only teams under par.
Auburn drew the top seed and will face Alabama on Saturday at 6:30 a.m. off No. 1. Tennessee will be matched against Texas A&M at 8:20 a.m. on No. 1, and Vanderbilt will take on Florida at 8:20 a.m. on No. 10.
Auburn freshman Jackson Koivun made a splashy debut, firing a third-round 66 to take medalist honors at 12 under on the 7,005-yard Seaside Course.
Mississippi State’s Hunter Logan, Vanderbilt’s Matthew Riedel, Texas A&M’s Daniel Rodrigues and Florida’s Jack Turner tied for second at 6 under.
Curry’s round allowed him to move up 29 spots to tie senior teammate Jacob Skov Olesen and Auburn’s Brendan Valdes for 11th place individually. Curry’s eagle was one of only nine at the event, joining teammate John Driscoll and seven others.
Arkansas junior Mattis Lefevre carded a 68 on Friday and finished at 1 under to tie for 17th. Driscoll, a senior, had a 69 on Friday and tied with a large group for 23rd place at even par.
The four Razorbacks with counting scores played the back nine in 10-under.
Senior Christian Castillo finished stroke play at 3-over and tied for 41st.
No. 5 Ole Miss (9 over) did not qualify for match play, nor did Mississippi State (13 over), Kentucky (19 over), South Carolina (21 over), LSU (34 over) and Missouri (38 over).