SEC Women’s Golf Championships

Two sit in second after tough 1st day

Juniors Maria Fassi and Dylan Kim were on top of their games, but the rest of the No. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks struggled in the opening round of the SEC women's golf championships Wednesday in Hoover, Ala.

Fassi, the nation's No. 2 player, and No. 12 Kim shot 2-under 70 to tie South Carolina's Ainhoa Olarra for second place, one shot behind No. 7 Kristen Gillman of Alabama at Greystone Golf & Country Club's Legacy Course.

The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide fired a 2 under to hold the team lead by five strokes over No. 10 South Carolina. No. 24 Vanderbilt was third at 8 over, followed by No. 13 Florida at 10 over and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville at 11 over.

The teams will have three rounds of stroke play, after which the field will be reduced to eight teams for seeded match play.

Missouri was alone in sixth place at 16 over, followed by No. 20 Auburn and Georgia at 18 over, while Mississippi State (+20) and Kentucky (+21) rounded out the top 10.

The day's most disappointing performers were No. 35 Texas A&M, which is in 12th place at 24 over, and No. 37 Ole Miss, which is in last at 28 over.

Kim birdied the par-5 No. 3 and held the lead for much of the opening round after firing back-to-back birdies on 5 and 6. The Plano, Texas, native got to 4 under with her final birdie on the 519-yard No. 11, the longest hole on the course, but she gave strokes back on Nos. 16 and 18 to fall out of the lead.

Fassi, who has won five tournaments this season, birdied Nos. 6, 12 and 15. Her only bogey was on the par-3 No. 8.

Arkansas Coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said windy conditions made for a tough opening round.

"I think we played a little defensively today instead of being disciplined with our game plan," she said. "We got away from it a little bit, but I think we rallied hard coming in. We struggled on the front nine but played a little better on the back nine. Dylan and Maria were solid today and I think today was a little uncharacteristic of the other three."

Arkansas' other counting scores came from senior Alana Uriell, who carded a 7-over 79, and junior Cara Gorlei, who shot 8 over. Junior Kaylee Benton had a 9 over that was not counted.

Sports on 04/19/2018

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