Razorbacks finish 3rd, put 3 in Top 16 at Folds of Honor

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Arkansas bounced back and forth atop the Folds of Honor Collegiate leaderboard before ultimately finishing third with a score of 863 (11-over) at the American Dunes Golf Club (par 71, 7,086 yards). The Razorbacks, which started the day in fourth place, had three players — John Driscoll III, John Daly II and Manuel Lozada — finish among the top 16.

Notre Dame, playing with Arkansas, was the clubhouse leader by posting the winning score of 860 (8-over) thanks to a low round of 2-under on Wednesday. However, Michigan State, who was bouncing back and forth for the lead with Arkansas through the final round, was still on the course with two holes left to play. The Spartans continued to bounce in and out of the lead on holes 17 and 18 but their last three players each had pars on hole 18 to finish one stroke off the lead with a score of 861 (nineover).

“With four new starters this year, I couldn’t be more proud of this team this week,” Arkansas men’s coach Brad McMakin said. “We put ourselves in a position to win and unfortunately it didn’t go our way. We will learn from this and be better from it.”

Driscoll, the Northwestern graduate transfer, recorded his fifth career top-10 finish, tying for ninth (71-71-73–215/2over). He used birdies on holes 4, 5 and 6 to climb to the top of the leaderboard at -2 for the round and the tournament. He dropped a shot on 11 but remained tied for the lead. Driscoll also had a bogey on 16 to fall a shot back. On the final hole, Driscoll got a bad break on his second shot into the par-5, 18th that led to a double bogey to post his 2-over-par 73.

For the second day in a row, Lozada carded a 1-under-par 70 and, for the second day in a row, he led the Razorbacks. Overall, he jumped 14 spots to finish tied for 11th (76-70-70– 216/3-over) with his bogey-free round Wednesday. He reeled off five pars to start the day, birdied hole 6 and closed the round with 12 pars. Overall, he led the field and had a careerbest 44 pars (over 54 holes).

Daly moved up nine spots to tie for 16th (73-73-71– 217 /4-over) in his debut in the Razorback line-up. The redshirt sophomore offset two bogeys with two birdies to shoot an even-par 71.

Jacob Skov Olesen had his 12th career top-25 finish, tying for 24th (72-71-75–218/5-over) and Mateo Pulcini tied for 37th (73-73-75–221/8-over).

Up next, Arkansas travels to Birmingham, Ala., for the third annual Southeastern Conference Match Play, which will take place Sept. 25-27.