Maria Fassi birdied the par-5 18th hole on Wednesday to cap a 1-under par round of 71 and lead the No. 6 University of Arkansas to fourth place after the first round at the SEC women’s golf championships.
The defending SEC champion Razorbacks shot a 3-over 291 on the 6,274-yard Legends Course at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Hoover, Ala., to sit seven strokes behind co-leaders No. 12 Florida and No. 14 Auburn at 4 under.
No. 11 South Carolina, playing with the Razorbacks, is in third place at 1 over.
The senior Fassi, coming off a second-place finish at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, had four birdies to complete the day in a tie for sixth place with seven others. Auburn’s Julie McCarthy shot a 4-under 68 to take a one-shot lead over Ole Miss’ Julia Johnson and Florida’s Marta Perez SanMartin.
Arkansas senior Kaylee Benton carded two birdies and two bogeys for an even-par 72 to tie for 14th. Senior teammate Dylan Kim was a stroke behind at 1 over and tied for 19th place, followed by freshman Ximena Gonzalez, who birded No. 18 to finish at 3-over 75.
Freshman Brooke Matthews, the reigning SEC player of the week, had the Razorbacks’ non-counting score of 77.
Georgia shot a 5 over for fifth place, while Tennessee and Mississippi State are tied for sixth at 6 over. No. 4 Vanderbilt, which played with Arkansas and South Carolina, is in eighth place at 8 over.
Defending NCAA runner-up Alabama struggled to 13 over for 13th place.
The teams will play two more rounds of stroke play to determine the top eight teams for match play, which begins Saturday.