State sports briefs
GOLF Lewis named Solheim Cup captain
Stacy Lewis, the former University of Arkansas All-American and twotime major champion was named Team USA captain for the 2024 Solheim Cup. Lewis is already set to serve as captain for the 2023 Solheim Cup, which will pit Team
USA against Team Europe this September in Spain.
Lewis, 38, will be the youngest team captain in U.S. history. The Solheim Cup is a three-day biennial event, but it will be played in back-to-back years due to the alteration of scheduling because of covid-19.
Lewis played in four Solheim Cups (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017) and served as an assistant coach in 2019 and 2021. The event will be played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., in 2024.
SEC honors Fernandez de Oliveira
University of Arkansas senior Mateo Fernandez de Oliviera was named the SEC’s co-golfer of the week on Wednesday, sharing the honor with South Carolina’s Rafe Reynolds and
Florida’s Ricky Castillo.
Fernandez de Oliveira won the Hal Williams Collegiate in Mobile, Ala., by five strokes for his second career collegiate victory. He shot a 15-under-198 total, defeating five of the top 100 players in the process. He led the field with 18 birdies over 54 holes, helping the Razorbacks to a second-place finish in the team standings.
Fernandez de Oliveira’s 198 total and 15-under score were both his best by seven strokes and the sec- ond-best in school history behind Julian Perico (197 total) and Sebastian Cappelen (17-under).
GAC tabs SAU sophomore
Southern Arkansas University sophomore Logan McDonald was named the men’s golfer of the week by the Great American Conference on Wednesday.
McDonald, of Bryant, had a career-best performance at the Houston Classic in Humble, Texas, where he paced the Muleriders to an eighth-place finish in the team standings. His 3-under 69 in the first round of the event, which included four birdies, was his first career round in the 60s and was the third Muleriders golfer to shoot a sub-70 round this season. He finished in a tie for 14th place, the best result among the 33 GAC golfers competing in the event.
McDonald is the first SAU golfer to earn the honor since 2021.