Trojans Begin NCAA Regional Play in Michigan

2022-23 Little Rock Men's Golf Statistics (PDF)

2022 NCAA PALM BEACH GARDENS REGIONAL
Dates	Monday, May 15 - Wednesday, May 17
Format	18 holes each day (54 total)
Times	7:00 a.m. tee times from holes 1 and 10
Location	Bath, Mich.
Course	Eagle Eye Golf Club
Teams (Seed)	Illinois (No. 1), Florida (No. 2), Texas (No. 3), Oregon (No. 4), Kansas State (No. 5), Georgia (No. 6), Liberty (No. 7), San Diego (No. 8), Little Rock (No. 9), Michigan State (Hosts, No. 10), Wisconsin (No. 11), Illinois State (No. 12), Purdue Fort Wayne (No. 13)
Scoring	GolfStat.com

Opening Tee
Little Rock will continue their record-breaking season in their third-straight NCAA Regional appearance this week. The Trojans are heading north to Michigan for the Bath Regional hosted by Michigan State at Eagle Eye Golf Club.
 
NCAA Regional History
The Trojans will make their fifth NCAA regional trip in program history after winning the Ohio Valley Conference Championship last month, defeating Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the match play championship (4-1-0). Last season, the Trojans won the Sunbelt Conference Championship in their final season as members of the conference, edging out Georgia Southern and earning a bid to the Palm Beach Gardens Regional, where they placed sixth. The 2021 season saw the Trojans make a regional appearance for the first time in 20 years, taking fifth at the Stillwater Regional and advancing to the NCAA Championship for the first and only time in program history. Their two early appearances came in back-to-back years at the turn of the century; in 2000, the Trojans competed in Victoria, Texas, finishing tied for 18th with Manuel Bermudez the top finisher, tying for 44th with a 2-over 218. The following season, Little Rock tied for 20th in Stillwater, led by Casey Yates and Luke Bakke both tying for 30th at 6-over 222.
 
Regional Information
The 2023 Bath Regional will be a three-day, 54-hole event on a par-71, 7,126-yard course beginning on Monday, May 15 and continuing through Wednesday, May 17. The event is one of six regionals being held nationally, with the other sites being Auburn, Ala., Las Vegas, Nev., Morgan Hill, Calif., Norman, Okla., and Salem, S.C. Tee times will begin at 7:00 a.m. CT each day with the Trojans paired with Liberty and San Diego for round one. Little Rock will tee off in the second flight, beginning with Nico Horder at 7:55 a.m. CT and continuing in 11-minute intervals leading up to Anton Albers at 8:39 a.m. CT. The top five teams will advance to the NCAA Championship held May 26 to June 1 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
 
Regional Field
The 2023 Bath Regional presents a tough 13-team field, led by one-seed Illinois, the third-best team in the country according to the latest GolfStat rankings. Florida will be the two-seed, with the rest of the field as 3. Texas; 4. Oregon; 5. Kansas State; 6. Georgia; 7. Liberty; 8. San Diego; 9. Little Rock; 10. Michigan State; 11. Wisconsin; 12. Illinois State; and 13. Purdue Fort Wayne.
 
Trojan Lineup
The lineup for regionals will look very familiar as head coach Jake Harrington will use the same group he's used for the Trojans' last three events, including the conference championship. Anton Albers will anchor the squad, followed by OVC Player of the Year Jansen Smith, All-OVC honorees Archie Smith and Magnus Lomholt, and Nico Horder.
 
Conference Champions
After closing out a 31-year membership in the Sunbelt Conference as the 2022 Sunbelt Champions, the Trojans made themselves known as a force to be reckoned with in the OVC, winning the conference title in their first season as members. After finishing first in stroke play with a 24-under 840 and a 25-stroke lead over second-place SIUE, they moved on to defeat Lindenwood in the match play semifinals (4-0-1) and then SIUE in the match play finals (4-1-0). Anton Albers claimed his fifth career win, a new program record, carding an 11-under 205 (70-65-70). He was joined in the top five by teammates Nico Horder in third (69-71-71, 5-under 211) and Jansen Smith in fourth (72-71-69, 4-under 212). Archie Smith finished tied for twelfth (66-74-80, 4-over 220) and Magnus Lomholt tied for eighteenth (77-73-73, 7-over 223), making it the first time this season all five starters placed in the individual top-20.
 
2022 Palm Beach Gardens Regional
Last year, Little Rock went into the Palm Beach Gardens Regional as the eight-seed. Still, after battling a strong field on PGA National's tricky back nine, the Trojans finished 25-over 889 for the 54-hole event, earning sixth place and just missing a top-five finish that would have sent them to the NCAA Championship for a second-straight year.   
 
National Rankings
Heading into this week's NCAA Bath Regional, Little Rock is ranked 50th in the latest GolfStat rankings, sitting as the number one ranked team in the OVC, ahead of Tennessee Tech at number 179. Individually, the highest-ranked golfer in the conference is Little Rock's Jansen Smith at number 112. Matteo Cristoni joins Jansen in the GolfStat rankings at number 124, making Little Rock the only OVC school with multiple ranked golfers.
 
Record Watch
Heading into the postseason, Little Rock has a handful of program marks within its sights. As a team, the Trojans boast a team scoring average of 286.82, narrowly beating out the previous school record of 286.97 from the 2018-29 season. Individually, Anton Albers, who has already re-written the record books several times this season, joins the race for the career scoring average record, currently sitting in third all-time with a 72.54. Albers is just behind teammate Jansen Smith's second-all-time 72.35 and the two are joined in the top five in program history by Magnus Lomholt's fourth-best 73.25 as all three Trojans look to surpass the program-best 72.32 held by Daniel Fox (1998-01).
 
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