Juniors Maria Fassi and Dylan Kim were on top of their games, but the rest of the No. 3 Razorbacks struggled in the opening round of the SEC women's golf championships on 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 No. 3 Razorbacks 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 much of the opening round after firing back-to-back birdies on 5 and 6. The Plano, Texas, native got to 4-under par with her final birdie on the 519-yard No. 11, the longest hole on the course, but she gave strokes back on 16 and 18 to fall out of the lead.
Fassi, who has won five tournaments this season, birdied 6, 12 and 15 and had her only bogey 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 81 that was not counted.