No. 6 Women’s Golf Tees Off Spring Season at Moon Golf Invitational
MELBOURNE, Fla. – Arkansas Women’s Golf is set to tee off its spring season on Sunday, February 20, as Head Coach Shauna Taylor’s squad heads to Florida for the 2022 Moon Golf Invitational. The Hogs won’t coast to start the new season, though, as the field at the event is loaded – Arkansas will be joined by eight other programs ranked in the top-25, including No. 9 Alabama, No. 17 Auburn, No. 15 Baylor, No. 19 Duke, No. 7 Florida, No. 21 LSU, No. 3 South Carolina and No. 8 Virginia.
With the departure of Brooke Matthews to the professional ranks, sophomore Cory Lopez will assume the top spot in Taylor’s first lineup of 2022. Lopez is up to the task – she finished in the top-five in two of the Hogs’ three events in the fall, notching a second-place finish at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational, while taking fifth at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup. This will be Lopez’s second time playing in the Moon Golf Invitational, and she had success last year, finishing tied for 26th. Her second round 68 at the event still stands as the second-best single round score of her career.
In the vacated second spot will be Miriam Ayora, whose potential has been on display over the last two seasons. Ayora finished the fall strong, tallying a ninth-place finish at the BCI and a 18th place finish at the Stephens Cup. Ayora started the spring of her freshman season off strong in Florida last year, finishing tied for 19th at the UCF challenge in her first ever collegiate event.
Kajal Mistry is slated to tee off third for the Hogs in Melbourne this weekend. Mistry, along with fellow junior Julia Gregg, is now the elder statesman of the group, as she is one of just four upperclassmen on the Hog roster. Mistry was her usual consistent self during the fall season, as she finished all four of Arkansas’ events in the top-20. Mistry was especially good at the BCI, where her fourth-place finish matched the best finish of her career so far.
The aforementioned Gregg will play from the fourth spot to start the 2022 spring season. Like Mistry, Gregg was rock solid this fall, finishing all four events inside the top-20, including three inside the top-15. Her best finish came in the Hogs’ win at the Cougar Classic in September, where she finished tied for sixth, firing a 210 (-6), a career-best 54-hole score.
Rounding out the lineup at the Moon Golf Invitational will be Giovanna Fernandez, the talented freshman out of Paraguay. Fernandez, who was at the highly-touted Montverde Academy before coming to Arkansas, is one of the premier amateur golfers in the world, having won a whopping 21 wins in her career across the globe. The Moon Golf Invitational will mark her collegiate debut.
Ffion Tynan will play in the event as an individual.
More Information
Keep up with all of the latest news and information and get behind the scenes looks into our program on our social media accounts. Follow us on Twitter at @RazorbackWGolf and check out our Facebook page “Razorback Women’s Golf.” Stats, news and player information can be found at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
