UCA men’s golf closes fall in sixth at Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate

Vukasin Suturovic shot 29 on the front nine in his first round Monday at Ridgepointe Country Club. That’ll get people talking.

The Central Arkansas freshman kept it rolling from there. He finished 5 under and tied for fourth at the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Too bad it didn’t help the team score. Suturovic played as an independent this week, so his numbers stood on their own.

UCA still came home sixth in a 17-team field. Not a bad way to close out the fall.

The Bears went 4 over in the first round, 6 over in the second and even in the third. Add it up and you get 10 over.

Arkansas State didn’t leave much drama for anybody else. The host school won at 27 under, a full 37 shots ahead of where UCA landed.

Austin Peay was the only other UAC program in Jonesboro. It finished 8 under.

Two days and 54 holes

Monday was a grind. Teams played 36 holes before anybody got to sit down for good.

Tuesday brought 18 more. It was stroke play start to finish, with 98 players in the field.

That middle round is where the Bears lost ground. They gave back six shots in it.

They bounced back Tuesday with a round right at par. Not flashy, but it sure beat going backward.

The numbers say UCA did plenty of things right. Its 155 pars ranked third in the field.

The Bears also made two eagles, good for a tie for third. Their 49 birdies tied for sixth.

Isserentant finishes strong

Leopold Isserentant posted the best score among the guys who counted. He finished 2 under and tied for 11th.

The freshman didn’t get there in a hurry. He was 1 over after the opening round and shot even in the second.

Tuesday was his day. Isserentant went 3 under in the final round.

Blane Burk went the other way. The junior opened 4 under and looked like he’d be right there with him.

It didn’t last. Burk shot 2 over in the second round and 4 over in the third, which left him at 2 over.

Cohen Kinnard never wandered far from par. The sophomore shot 1 over, even and 2 over for a 3-over total.

Rough start for two freshmen

Sam Norman started at 6 over and spent the rest of the week cleaning it up.

He shot 4 over in the second round. Then the freshman closed with a 1 over and finished 11 over.

Supanat Runglikhitcharoen had it tougher. He opened at 11 over.

To his credit, he got better every time out. He went 5 over next and shot even on Tuesday, ending at 16 over.

Suturovic, for the record, went 3 under, 3 under and 1 over.

The full breakdown is on the tournament scoreboard.

See you in February

That’s it for the fall.

UCA won’t play again until February.

When the Bears do come back, it’ll be in Puerto Rico at the Palmas del Mar Collegiate.

That one’s Feb. 12-14.

There are worse places to spend a February weekend.

Four of the six golfers UCA sent to Jonesboro were freshmen, so a few months to work on things won’t hurt.