No. 8 Arkansas, José Marin in First After Day 1 at Blessings Collegiate
FAYETTEVILLE – The eighth-ranked Razorback women’s golf team and sophomore Maria José Marin finished round one of the Blessings Collegiate Invitational atop the team and individual leaderboards.
The Hogs shot a 9-under par 279 on Monday and bested second-place No. 16 Mississippi State by seven strokes. José Marin holds a three-shot lead over State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez after shooting a career-low 65 in the opening round. The low ties Lopez Ramirez’s opening round in 2022 as the lowest in BCI history. José Marin finished the front nine -2 with birdies on 1, 5 and 9. Her lone bogey came on the difficult par-5 second hole. She is coming off a top-20 finish at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship as a sponsor exemption last weekend.
Team
After teeing off from hole No. 1 at 11:45 a.m., the Razorbacks struggled with two double bogeys on No. 2 and three bogeys on No. 7. Senior Kendall Todd avenged her double on 2 with an eagle on par-5 fifth hole, the first of her career. Todd will enter round two at even par and in T-11th place. Freshman Clarisa Temelo is tied with Todd in 11th. The Querétaro, Mexico native was the only Hog to birdie No. 2 and finished both nines at even par.
Junior Reagan Zibilski (-2, T-5th) shot one over her career-low of 69 to help the Hogs finish the day in first place. Zibilski was the only Razorback to birdie holes 6 and 8 and finished the front nine at even par. The Springfield, Mo. native opened the back nine with back-to-back birdies and parred the remaining seven holes.
Arkansas had a field’s best 17 total birdies.
Individuals
Giovanna Fernandez (+2, T-18th), the Hogs’ highest-placed individual in the field. Fernandez recorded 37s on both nines and birdied 11, 13 and 16. Abbey Schutte, one shot behind Fernandez, headed into the seventh hole at -1 but double-bogeyed the par five. The sophomore shot an even 36 on the back nine.
Freshman Natalie Blonien shot a 76 in her collegiate debut and sits at +4 and T-29th heading into Tuesday.
1 – Maria José Marin – 65=65 (-7)
5 – Reagan Zibilski – 70=70 (-2)
T11 – Kendall Todd – 72=72 (E)
T11 – Clarisa Temelo – 72=72 (E)
T18 – Giovanna Fernandez* – 74=74 (+2)
T25 – Abbey Schutte – 75=75 (+3)
T29 – Natalie Blonien* – 76=76 (+4)
T38 – Cory Lopez *– 78=78 (+6)
T45 – Anna Kate Nichols – 80=80 (+8)
* – Individual
Round One Team Scores
1 – No. 8 Arkansas – 279=279 (-9)
2 – No. 16 Mississippi State – 288=286 (-2)
3 – Kansas State – 288=288 (E)
4 – BYU – 294=294 (+6)
5 – Louisville – 297=297 (+9)
T6 – Missouri– 300=300 (+12)
T6 – Kent State – 300=300 (+12)
8 – No. 13 LSU – 303=303 (+15)
9 – Ohio State – 308=308 (+20)
10 – Virginia Tech – 312=312 (+24)
Up Next
The Hogs will play round two at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational, tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 1. Arkansas’ individuals tee off from hole 10 at 9 a.m., while the Hogs’ team will go off hole 10 at 10:15 a.m. Admission to Blessings Golf Club is free to the public.
Golf Channel’s coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m.
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.
