Razorbacks Get Top Seed at NCAA Columbus Regional

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas women’s golf will be the No. 1 seed in the Columbus Regional in next month’s NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships. The Razorbacks earned their first top-seed since 2018 and their 23rd regional appearance in program history.

The Hogs rank atop a field of 12 teams that will play at The Ohio State University Golf Club – Scarlet Course from May 5-7. The top 5 teams from the six regionals will advance to the NCAA Championship held at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California from May 16-21. Other regional sites include Norman, Oklahoma; Lexington, Kentucky; Charlottesville, Virginia; Gold Canyon, Arizona and Lubbock, Texas.

Arkansas won the Las Vegas Regional last year and finished even par to beat Purdue by four strokes. At the NCAA Championships, the Razorbacks earned a 10th place finish and then-freshman Maria José Marin finished T4 at 5-under. The Hogs will look to advance to their 13th NCAA Championship following the regional round.

The team is coming off one of its best regular seasons in program history and spent some time as the top-ranked team in the NCAA in both the fall and spring. Arkansas has four tournament wins: The Blessings Collegiate Invitational, Dale McNamara Invitational, Jackson T. Stephens Cup (match play) and the Puerto Rico Classic. The Razorbacks finished their run at the SEC Championship in the match play semifinals after taking down No. 6 Texas, 3-2, in the quarterfinals.

10 other SEC programs join Arkansas in the field: South Carolina, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

Columbus Regional – Columbus, Ohio

The University of Ohio Golf Club – Scarlet Course (Par 71)

1. #2 Arkansas

2. #10 LSU

3. #14 Ohio State

4. #23 Kansas

5. #26 Houston

6. #35 SMU

7. #39 UNLV

8. #47 Illinois

9. Kent State

10. Illinois State

11. Xavier

12. Oakland

About the Course (via GolfDigest)

Augusta National and Cypress Point architect Alister MacKenzie originally designed Ohio State’s Scarlet course in 1931, but he died in 1934 before construction began. After his death, Perry Maxwell oversaw the construction, though the course is still considered a MacKenzie layout. Jack Nicklaus returned to his collegiate course in 2005-2006 to restore the bunkers and lengthen the course to over 7,400 yards. The bunkers are some of the most penal in college golf, many massive in size and most with tall lips, often requiring high-lofted clubs to get back in play. The greens often play quite firm, making it difficult to hold approach shots close to some hole locations. The Ohio track regularly plays as one of the toughest courses on the Korn Ferry Tour when it hosts an annual event during the tour’s finals series. The course is semi-private and open to those who have an affiliation with Ohio State University.