Arkansas Tees Off Spring Season at UCF Challenge
ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 7 Arkansas Women’s Golf is headed to Florida to start off the spring season, as Head Coach Shauna Taylor’s Hogs will take part in the UCF Challenge (Jan. 31 – Feb. 2), which will be played at the Eagle Creek Golf Club (6439 yards, Par 72). The Challenge will feature 17 teams, including fellow SEC foes No. 17 Kentucky and No. 24 Mississippi State.
Leading the Hogs back onto the links is redshirt junior Brooke Matthews, who ended the fall ranked as the best individual golfer in the nation by GolfWeek. Matthews notched a historic win at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational to start her season, beating Ingrid Lindblad of LSU, who won SEC Player of the Year last season, by five strokes. She followed that up with a runner-up finish at The Ally at Old Waverly and an 11th place finish at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic. Matthews has played seven of her nine rounds this season at or below par, and has finished two of her events well under par (-10 at the BCI, -7 at The Ally).
Sophomore Ela Anacona will fill the second slot in Taylor’s lineup in Florida. Anacona finished in the top 40 in all three of her events played, including a 23rd place finish at the BCI. She has played two rounds under par so far this season.
In the third spot for the Hogs will be Kajal Mistry, another sophomore that has helped carry the young Hog lineup in the fall. Mistry will look to keep her momentum from the end of the fall season, as she notched a 13th place finish at the Liz Murphey Fall Collegiate Classic (73-72-74—219). It was the second top-15 finish of Mistry’s career so far, and her best finish so far this season.
Freshman Miriam Ayora will be making her competitive debut at the UCF Challenge, and will start from the fourth spot in the Razorback lineup. The Barcelona native had plenty of good finishes at top-flight Spanish events before her arrival in Fayetteville, including a top-10 finish at the 2018 Spanish Championship (73-73-74-69), a top-five finish at the Campeonate de Espnana FFAA Absoluto Femenino (76-73) and wins at the 2019 Optimist (74-67) and at the 2019 Catalunya Championship (76-65-67).
Rounding out the Hogs’ traveling five will be fellow freshman Cory Lopez, who has played in all three of Arkansas’ events this year. Lopez started the year strong, finishing tied for 11th at the BCI, and also finished 2020 well, tallying a 26th place finish at the Liz Murphey Fall Collegiate Classic.
More Information
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