Marin Wins East Lake Cup, No. 20 Arkansas Earns 2-seed for Match Play
ATLANTA – The No. 20 Arkansas women’s golf team shot its best round of the season at Monday’s stroke play round at the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.
Senior Maria Jose Marin shot a 5-under 67 to win her seventh collegiate stroke play medal and second of the season.
The Hogs (-6, 282) finished in second place, two shots behind the leader, No. 3 USC.
Arkansas will face 3-seed Eastern Michigan in the match play semifinals on Tuesday, with tee times starting at 11:30 a.m. Golf Channel will begin live coverage at 2 p.m.
The Eagles shot 3-under on Monday, with three players at 1-under.
The Trojans will face Oklahoma State (+2) in the 1-seed vs. 4-seed matchup.
The winners of each match will play for the Cup and the losers for third place on Wednesday.
How it Happened
Marin opened her round with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 and never looked back. Her only blemish came on the par-4 third hole, the hardest on the course on Monday, but she added four more birdies, including one on No. 18 to close it out.
The Cali, Columbia, native battled with USC’s Jasmine Koo for most of the day and the pair was tied at 4-under headed into the final hole. Koo bogeyed and a two-shot swing went in Marin’s favor.
Sara Brentcheneff also finished under par with a 70 to tie for sixth, earning top 10 finishes in each of her five fall appearances.
Junior Natalie Blonien was 2-under headed into No. 18 but suffered a double-bogey to finish with a 72. Sophomores Swetha Sathish and Ebba Liljeberg shot over par with a 73 and 75, respectively.
Arkansas led the field by five strokes at the turn after four of five golfers birdied the par-3 ninth, but the Trojans shot 9-under on the backside to claim the top seed.
The Razorbacks
2. Arkansas -6
1. Maria Jose Marin -5
T6. Sara Brentcheneff -2
T11. Natalie Blonien E
T14. Swetha Sathish +1
16. Ebba Liljeberg +3
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