EL DORADO, Ark. – Little Rock faced a challenging day on the course at Mystic Creek, but held its own to advance to the Sun Belt Conference match play championship Wednesday in El Dorado. The Trojans posted a 23-over 311 over the final 18 holes, dropping one spot into second to conclude the 54-hole stroke play portion of the conference event with a 46-over 910.
2021 Sun Belt Championship Stroke Play Results
Entering the day in first, Little Rock slipped to second as scores from all teams were elevated due the difficulty of the course at Mystic Creek. The Trojans finished 11 shots back of first-place Georgia Southern's 35-over 899 as the Eagles posted a 10-over 298 in round three.
Little Rock finished four shots better than ULM's 50-over 914 as the Trojans and Warhawks will square off against each other as the number two and three seeds in Wednesday's semifinals. Coastal Carolina (52-over 916) claimed the fourth and final seed for match play, sinking a birdie putt on 18 to finish one shot better than fifth-place Arkansas State (53-over 917).
Individually, fifth-year
Logan Pate and junior
Anton Albers both tied for ninth at 11-over 227. Albers notched a 6-over 78 over the final 18 holes and Pate, who began the day as the individual leader, slipped into the tie for ninth following his 10-over 82. Both recovered from rough starts on the front nine to shoot +1 and +2, respectively, over the back nine to help secure a match play position for the Trojans.
Sophomore
Nico Horder had the low round of the day for Little Rock at 3-over 74, putting him at 2-over over the final 18 holes. Horder also placed among the individual top-20, tying for 17th with a 14-over 71 230 in his first conference stroke play event.
Fellow sophomore
Magnus Lomholt tied for 34th at 21-over 237 following an 8-over 80 in round three while junior
Marcel Rauch tied for 38th at 23-over 239, carding a 7-over 79 over the final 18 holes of stroke play.
Horder closes out the 54-hole portion of the tournament at 1-over on par-three holes to lead Little Rock and tie for ninth overall with Pate's 4-over on the par-fours ranking second among the 60-player field. Albers was the Trojans' top finisher on par-fives at 1-under, tied for third, with Horder and Pate pacing Little Rock with nine birdies over the three day event.
The match play semifinal will begin at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning with number two Little Rock facing number three ULM, teeing off from hole 10, with number one Georgia Southern and number four Coastal Carolina starting on hole one. The two winners will advance to the championship round, getting underway at around 1 p.m.
Live coverage of the match play championship will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live scoring provided by GolfStat.com.
2021 Sun Belt Championship Little Rock Results
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