Fassi, Benton lead Razorbacks into tie for first place at NCAA Championship

FAYETTEVILLE — Maria Fassi birdied two of her final three holes, while Kaylee Benton finished with a birdie leading Arkansas into a tie for first place after round one of the 2019 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Blessings Golf Club on Friday.

Fassi played her way to a T2 with a 1-under 72 on the par 73, 6,397-yard course with Benton, who was celebrating her birthday, 1-over with a 74 to finish T5 after round one.

The duo paced Arkansas to a 10-over 302 and a tie for the lead with Texas after first round action. Two shots back at 12-over are Arizona and Stanford with a 304, followed by Duke at 305 to round the top-5 team scores.

Freshman Brooke Matthews was steady all day and finished T19 shooting a 76 while senior Dylan Kim finished T67 with an 80. Ximena Gonzalez rounds out Arkansas’ scores with an 88.

A late start

The morning flight got backed up early in the round on Friday.

As a result, Arkansas had about a 45-minute delay in its afternoon start time. The 6,397-yard course was challenging in and of itself, but hot temperatures and strong winds were also factor’s in Friday’s scores.

Some numbers

Arkansas finished the round with 55 pars (second most), and 10 birdies (T8). Fassi had 12 par holes and four birdies while Benton led the field led the field playing the par-4s 2-under for the day.

Fassi was one of only four players who were under par for the day.

What’s next

Arkansas tees off at 8:06 a.m. playing with Florida and Auburn and starting on the No. 10 tee. Teams will play a third round of stroke play on Sunday before cutting the 24-team field to 15 teams.

The individual stroke play champion will be crowned on Monday and the low eight teams move on to match play Tuesday and Wednesday.