30 Oct 2024 Trojans wrap up fall season with fifth place at The Clerico

Posted at 5:37 PMh in Sports by

TULSA, Okla. — Little Rock wrapped up its fall golf season Tuesday with yet another top-five finish, claiming a share of the fifth spot at The Clerico at Oaks Country Club in Oklahoma. Little Rock (+35) tied for the spot with New Mexico and Santa Clara, while Northwestern (+12), host Oral Roberts (+20), Duke (+25) and UTEP (+27) completed the top of the team leaderboard.

Photo by Nelson Chenault

Little Rock battled through strong winds for the duration of the event, posting scores of 5-over in the opening round, 10-over in the second and 20-over for the final 18 holes. The Trojans still managed to put one individual in the Top 15 and three in the Top 30 in a field of 72 golfers.

“Little slice of humble pie this week as we head into the offseason,” said Little Rock Head Coach Austin Eoff. “We have to get a lot better these next three months across the board and this will give us the fuel to do so. The golf course played very difficult this week due to the 20-40 mph winds, but we have to continue to improve our short games and decision-making. It was not playing as hard as we made it. Overall, we had a solid fall. This just leaves a sour taste in our mouths. But back to the grind to build for the championship season.”Archie Smith (+7) was the top finish for Little Rock, coming in at 14th with scores of 74-68-75 on the par 70 course. Matteo Cristoni (+10) finished 27th after rounds of 70-74-76 and Rhett South (+11) improved 10 spots to 27th with rounds of 70-78-73. Freddie Turnell (+13) carded rounds of 77-70-76 to finish 38th and Lukas Roessler (+18) finished 60th with scores of 71-80-77.

The three highest-ranked teams in the field – #30 Northwestern, #18 Duke, and #36 Little Rock – all placed in the top five. In addition to the team title, Northwestern also took the top individual spot. Little Rock went 4-0 against teams from the SEC this fall and notched four wins against teams ranked in the Top 25 nationally. In five events this fall,

Little Rock placed in the top five on four occasions, including a team championship earlier this month.

The spring season begins Feb. 17-19 with the Trojans heading west to La Quinta, Calif. for The Prestige at the iconic PGA West course in Coachella Valley.