Razorback Golfers Make Cut at Alotian for Western Amateur

Razorback golfer Sebastian Cappelen

Entering the day in the field’s top 10, University of Arkansas Razorback golfers, senior Sebastian Cappelen and sophomore Taylor Moore held firm during the fourth and final round of stroke play at the 111th Western Amateur Championship Friday afternoon at The Alotian Club, making up two of the 16 players that advanced to match play.

Cappelen (69-72-69-72) will enter the match play portion as the No. 10 seed while Moore (70-70-67-75) is the No. 12 seed, as both finished the four rounds of stroke play in a six-way tie for 7th place at six-under 282. Moore will be the first to tee off on Saturday when he takes on No. 5 seed David Snyder at 8:30 a.m., while Cappelen will begin his match against No. 7 seed Robby Shelton at 8:50 a.m.

The first two rounds of match play will be held on Saturday with the semifinals and 18-hole championship set for Sunday. Live in-progress scoring can be found at www.TheWesternAmateur.com or by following @RazorbackMGolf on twitter.

Founded in 1899, the Western Amateur is regarded as one of the major amateur events in the world with past winners including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The field started with 156 players, including 54 of the world’s top 100, from 10 nations. This year marks the first time the Western Amateur has been held in state of Arkansas and the first time since 1966 it has been played in the south. Only the British Amateur (1855) and the U.S. Amateur (1895) are older than the Western Amateur.

Cappelen’s day saw the two-time Palmer Cup participant start three-over through his first four holes, but his round turned around on the par 4, 8th hole when he recorded an eagle. Although his round only featured one birdie the rest of the way, Cappelen was bogey-free over his final 14 holes en route to the even-par 72 that put him one stroke ahead of a group of five players that had to return to the course for a playoff to determine the final four seeds.

Taylor began the day in a tie for fourth place following Thursday’s bogey-free, five-under par 67. The Edmond, Okla. native’s streak without a bogey reached 24 holes and he was as low as 10-under with four holes left before shooting a three-over 75.

The duo – Arkansas’ top two finishers at four events in 2012-13, including the SEC Championship – combined for 31 birdies over the four stroke play rounds, while Cappelen added a pair of eagles.

Cappelen and Moore weren’t the only two Razorback golfers in contention late Friday. Redshirt senior made a strong push down the stretch for one of the 16 qualifying spots, as he birdied five of his final six holes to shoot three-under 69, good for the fourth-best round of the day. Doramus’ four-day total of 73-70(-2)-74-69(-3)/286 was just three strokes off the group of five players that took part in the playoff. Sophomore Nicolas Echavarria was the fourth Razorback who made the cut on Thursday morning, as he finished up his tournament in a tie for 40th place (70-73-69-76).

Courtesy University of Arkansas Department of Athletics