UA women's golf finishes 2nd in stacked Carmel Cup field

Arkansas’ women’s golf team shot 14-under par and finished second among a strong Carmel Cup field of competition in Pebble Beach, Calif.

The Razorbacks entered ranked No. 27 in the Golf Channel preseason top 30 and finished with a better score than four teams ranked higher. Arkansas was runner-up to top-ranked Stanford, which shot 22-under.

Arkansas posted a better score than a group of teams that included No. 4 Texas A&M (-10), No. 12 Mississippi State (+9) and No. 19 Vanderbilt (+7).

“It’s such a special weekend to start our season at Pebble Beach,” Arkansas coach Shauna Taylor said in a press release. “We have an incredible group of young women on our team this year, all 10 of them are just unbelievably awesome to be around. I knew coming into this week, there was this support, they had fun and they genuinely worked together.”

It was the Razorbacks’ second consecutive year competing in the Carmel Cup. Arkansas finished fifth in the 2022 rendition with a 28-over score.

Maria José Marin, a freshman from Cali, Colombia, posted an 11-under score to match the program’s 54-hole freshman record. Marin placed second in the event.

“I’m really proud of Maria and her freshman debut,” Taylor said. “To be able to watch her in a Razorback uniform after recruiting her for so long was super special and I’m really excited about her future at Arkansas.”

Arkansas’ scores (six-count-five)

2 Maria José Marin – 67-70-68=205 (-11)

T13 Miriam Ayora – 71-74-70=215 (-1)

T16 Kajal Mistry – 71-69-76=216 (E)

21 Reagan Zibilski – 72-72-74=218 (+2)

T22 Julia Gregg – 72-72-75=219 (+3)

T25 Ela Anacona – 78-71-72=221 (+5)

Carmel Cup Team Scores (Golf Channel Preseason Rank)

1 – No. 1 Stanford – 352-354-352-=1058 (-22)

2 – No. 27 Arkansas – 353-354-359=1066 (-14)

3 – No. 4 Texas A&M – 364-350-356=1070 (-10)

4 – No. 19 Vanderbilt – 364-368-355=1087 (+7)

5 – No. 12 Mississippi State – 364-358-367=1089 (+9)

6 – No. 32 Oklahoma State – 370-36-3673=1100 (+20)

7 – No. 26 Texas Tech – 371-364-370=1105 (+25)

8 – Oklahoma – 387-370-378=1125 (+45)