LITTLE ROCK – For the third-straight year, and the fifth time in program history, Little Rock has earned a bid to the NCAA Regional Championships, being held May 15-17. The Trojans have earned the number nine seed in the Bath Regional and will compete at Eagle Eye Golf Club in Bath, Michigan.
The bid comes one week after Little Rock claimed the 2023 Ohio Valley Championship at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau. After finishing first in stroke play with a 24-under 840 and a 25 stroke lead over second-place SIU Edwardsville, 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).
Little Rock enters the Bath Regional ranked the number 50 team in the latest GolfStat rankings. Little Rock has posted a team scoring average of 286.82
, the best mark in program history. The Trojans won or shared the team title in four different events in 2022-23, finishing in the top-five in eight of 11 team events.
Last week, the Trojans hauled in several OVC accolades, including
Jake Harrington being named the league's Coach of the Year and
Jansen Smith earning Golfer of the Year honors. Jansen is the top-ranked golfer in the OVC and ranked 111th nationally, boasting a season scoring average of 71.76, which ranks fourth in program history. He also finished in the top-20 individually in eight of 11 events he competed in and his 17 par-or-better rounds this season leads the team and ranks 6
th in the Little Rock record book.
Anton Albers,
Magnus Lomholt,
Archie Smith, and
Matteo Cristoni joined Jansen as all-conference team honorees, with Cristoni also named a member of the All-OVC Newcomer Team. Albers was also announced as a finalist for the 2023 Byron Nelson Award, annually awarded to the outstanding Division I, II, III, or NAIA scholar-athlete of the year, and claimed his second tournament win of the season at the conference tournament, making his 5
th career win, another Little Rock program best.
This will be the Trojans' third-straight regional appearance, finishing fifth at the Stillwater Regional in 2021 to secure their spot in the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona and then finishing sixth at last year's Palm Beach Regional to cap the 2021-22 season and a 31-year membership in the Sun Belt Conference. Little Rock posted a 25-over 889, placing sixth, just missing a NCAA Championship bid.
Little Rock qualified for NCAA Regionals in both 2000 and 2001, coming off back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships in those seasons. The Trojans tied for 18th at the Central Regional in 2000 in Victoria, Texas, then tied for 20th in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2001.
Little Rock NCAA Regional Tournament Results
2000 – NCAA Central Regional (Victoria Texas)
T-44th – Manuel Bermudez (70-77-71 = 218, +2)
T-74th – Daniel Fox (76-74-72 = 222, +6)
T-99th – Andrew Johnson (79-71-75 = 225, +9)
T-115th – Jamie Seim (87-73-67 = 227, +11)
T-129th – Steve Swonnell (80-73-79 = 232, +16)
T-18th – LITTLE ROCK (305-291-285 = 881, +17)
2001 – NCAA Central Regional (Stillwater, Okla.)
T-30th – Casey Yates (77-72-73 = 222, +6)
T-30th – Luke Bakke (75-76-71 = 222, +6)
T-71st – Daniel Fox (78-73-77 = 228, +12)
T-123rd – Billy Zihala (78-85-74 = 237, +21)
WD – Manuel Bermudez (73-75-WD)
T-20th – LITTLE ROCK (303-306-293 = 902, +38)
2021 – NCAA Stillwater Regional (Stillwater, Okla.)
T-10th –
Anton Albers (68-76-71 = 215, -1)
T-14th –
Magnus Lomholt (69-73-75 = 217, +1)
T-26th – Logan Pate (74-73-74 = 221, +5)
T-65th –
Nico Horder (80-79-74 = 233, +17)
T-69th –
Marcel Rauch (79-73-84 = 236, +20)
5th – LITTLE ROCK (290, 295, 294 = 879, +15)
2022 NCAA Palm Beach Gardens Regional Little Rock Results
T-23rd –
Anton Albers (74-72-74 = 220,+4)
T-23rd –
Magnus Lomholt (74-73-73 = 220, +4)
T-30th –
Jansen Smith (73-77-74 = 224, +8)
T- 39th –
Marcel Rauch (75-80-71 = 226, +10)
N/A –
Nico Horder (74-80-S = 154, +10)
N/A –
Archie Smith (S-S-77 = 77, +8)
6th – LITTLE ROCK (295, 302, 292 = 889, +25)
#LittleRocksTeam
