Razorbacks struggle on Day 1 of NCAAs

Arkansas golf coach Shauna Taylor, right, speaks with assistant coach Mike Adams during the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville.

The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks women's golf team struggled in the opening round of the NCAA Championships on Friday, shooting a 20-over par to stand tied for 16th place out of the 24 teams.

No. 6 Southern Cal leads the way at 3-over par 291, followed by No. 1 Alabama (+4) at the difficult 6,328-yard layout at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

The field will be cut to 15 teams after Sunday's third round and then to eight after the fourth round. The Razorbacks are tied with No. 5 Stanford.

No. 3 UCLA shot 6 over and is in third place, followed by No. 16 Kent State (+8), No. 4 Duke (+10), No. 13 Northwestern (+11) and the trio of No. 9 Arizona, No. 21 Florida State and No. 25 Northwestern, who are tied at 13 over.

The Razorbacks are one shot off of the cutline, where No. 20 Oklahoma is at 19 over in 15th place.

Junior Dylan Kim had the most consistent round for the Razorbacks, firing an even par 72 that featured two birdies and a double bogey. Kim is tied for 11th with seven other golfers, seven shots behind Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest, who is four strokes ahead of Jillian Hollis of Georgia.

Arkansas junior Kaylee Benton finished at 5 over par and is tied for 71st, while senior Alana Uriell is a shot behind her at 6 under.

Junior Maria Fassi, the No. 1 player in the country, had two birdies on her front nine and made the turn at 2 over, but carded a double bogey and triple bogey on the back nine to finish at 9 over, tied for 104th.

Junior Cara Gorlei had a quadruple bogey on the front nine and finished at 14 over as Arkansas' non-counting score, tied for 125th.