Senior Maria Fassi fired a 4-under-par 68 on Thursday to vault up the leaderboard to second place and lead the No. 6 University of Arkansas to third place after two rounds of the SEC women’s golf championships.
The Razorbacks shot a 1-under 287 to reach 2 over for the tournament at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Hoover, Ala. Arkansas trails No. 12 Florida (-9), which carded a tournament-low team score of 5-under 283, and No. 11 South Carolina (-3) heading into the final round of stroke play.
Arkansas will be paired with the Gators and Gamecocks on the No. 1 tee starting at 9:40 a.m. Friday. The top eight seeds will begin match play on Saturday.
“I’m super proud of this group,” Arkansas Coach Shauna Taylor said. “It takes a team effort to have success on this golf course.
“We’re just trying to take it one day at a time. Tonight we’re going to rest and recover. We want to fuel properly and try to pace ourselves to put ourselves in a position to challenge for a title.”
Fassi, who finished second at SECs last year, is in second again at 5 under behind Florida’s Marta Perez SanMartin, who shot a 68 on Thursday to reach 7 under. Julia Johnson of Ole Miss is four shots off the pace and Georgia’s Jo Hua Hong and South Carolina’s Emily Price are five shots back.
Individual medalist honors will be awarded after Friday's round. Fassi had three birdies on her first six holes and completed the day with five birdies and one bogey.
Arkansas seniors Kaylee Benton and Dylan Kim are tied with four other golfers for 15th at 1 over. Kim shot an even-par 72 on Thursday, which included five birdies and two double bogeys. Benton had four birdies and four bogeys en route to a 73.
The Razorbacks’ final counting score came from freshman Brooke Matthews of Rogers, whose 2 over moved her into a tie with freshman teammate Ximena Gonzalez at 7 over for the championship. The pair is tied for 50th place.
“I’m really proud of Brooke,” Taylor said. “She doubled her second hole and finished 2-over. Obviously Fassi had a fantastic round and Dylan told me she had 24 putts, so she battled hard today.
"It really says a lot about our group.”
Georgia is in fourth place at 3 over par, followed by No. 14 Auburn (+7), which was a co-leader with Florida after one round, and No. 4 Vanderbilt (+8).
Ole Miss (+12) and LSU (+15) wind up the top eight, with Mississippi State one stroke behind LSU and the tandem of Alabama and Texas A&M two shots out of eighth place at 17 over. Tennessee (+18), Missouri (+21) and Kentucky (+27) round out the field.