Arkansas Finishes 7th at Linger Longer; Mateo Gets Top 10
EATONTON, Ga. – Arkansas fired one of the best rounds of the day, a 5-under-par 283, but was not able to move up the leaderboard and finished seventh with a 54-hole score of 876 (+12) at the Linger Longer Invitational.
Senior Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira shot 69 Tuesday to tie for 10th for his third top 10 of the season and of the spring.
No. 20 Alabama, which led after rounds one and two, pulled away in the final round to win by eight strokes, finishing at 14-under for the event, over #11 Georgia Tech. The Crimson Tide were 8-under for the day and the Yellow Jackets were 7-under, moving from fourth to runnerup. Top-ranked Vanderbilt was +5 in the final round and finished third, followed by Clemson in fourth and Georgia and Chattanooga tying for fifth.
Fernandez de Oliveira shook off an opening-round 76 to finish tied for 10th. He moved from 55th to 22nd after a round two, 1-under 71 to 10th with his 3-under 69 Tuesday. He Was 2-under at the turn Tuesday with birdies on holes 2 and 6. He opened the inward nine with a bogey but answered with a birdie on 11 and added a birdie on 16 for his 69 and 54-hole total of 216, which was even par for the three rounds.
Wil Gibson and Manuel Lozada each fired 1-under rounds of 71. Gibson climbed eight spots into a tie for 37th. He turned in three birdies, including one on 18, and two bogeys and finished with a 54-hole score of 222 (+6). Lozada climbed 16th spots to tie for 47th. He had four birdies with three bogeys and finished with a score of 225 (+9).
Segundo Oliva Pinto tied for 29th with a three-day total of 220 (+4). The fifth-year senior bounced back from a second-round 77 to shoot even par in the final round, offsetting four bogeys with four birdies, including one to close out his round.
Julian Perico shot a 2-over-74 in the final round and tied for 33rd with a scored 0f 221 (+5).
Arkansas will conclude the regular season April 9-10 at Virginia’s Lewis Chitengwa Memorial, played in Charlottesville, Va., at Birdwood Golf Course.
Linger Longer Invitational
Mar. 19-21
Host: Kennesaw State/Mercer
Great Waters Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee // Eatonton, Ga.
7,436 yards || Par 72
Team Results:
1 #20 Alabama 283-287-280=850 / -14
2 #11 Georgia Tech 292-285-281=858 / -6
3 #1 Vanderbilt 286-286-292=864 / E
4 Clemson 295-291-281=867 / +3
T5 #34 Georgia 283-286-297=868 / +4
T5 Chattanooga 296-288-284=868 / +4
7 #44 Arkansas 294-299-283=876 / +12
T8 South Florida 299-302-292=893 / +29
T8 #16 Virginia 287-311-295=893 / +29
T10 Charlotte 303-309-291=903 / +39
T10 South Alabama 306-305-292=903 / +39
12 #37 UNC Greensboro 301-300-303-=904 / +40
13 Mercer 310-302-293=905 / +41
14 Wofford 299-308-298=906 / +42
15 Kennesaw State 299-304-305=908 / +44
16 Augusta 309-309-291=909 / +45
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