No. 8 Women’s Golf Takes on SEC Championship in Florida
BELLEAIR, Fla. – The No. 8 Arkansas women’s golf team will play at the 2024 SEC Women’s Golf Championship, set for Friday, April 12 to Tuesday, April 16 at Pelican Golf Club, a par 70, 6,150-yard course, in Belleair, Florida. Arkansas is seeking its first league title since 2018, as well as second in program history.
The SEC Championship is the same format as the NCAA Championship, in which the first three days, Friday through Sunday, will be three rounds of stroke play. Arkansas will tee off at 7 a.m. CT from the first tee with South Carolina and LSU on Friday. The top eight teams after three rounds of stroke play will advance to match play with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Monday and the championship on Tuesday. Monday’s semifinals will be streamed on SECN+, while the championship match will be televised live on SEC Network at 8 a.m. CT.
As one of the toughest conferences in the country, the SEC features four teams in the top 10, including the Hogs, as well as nine in the top 25 and 13 in the top 50, according to the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd rankings. South Carolina headlines the field at No. 2, followed by LSU at No. 5, Arkansas at No. 8 and Auburn at No. 10.
Pelican Golf Club is a stop on the LPGA tour, in where The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican is played. This year’s SEC Championship will take place outside of Alabama for the first year since 2012, when it was hosted in Fayetteville, after being hosted at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Hoover for the past 10 years.
The Hogs are looking to make match play, finish as one of the top eight teams in stroke play, for the first time since 2021, in which the No. 8 seed Hogs were defeated by No. 1 LSU, 3-2-0, in the quarterfinals. Arkansas last won the league title in 2018 for the program’s first tournament title.
Maria José Marin will play in her first SEC Championship at No. 1 in the lineup, ranked No. 2 according to Scoreboard Powered by Clippd, as well as No. 13 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. She is coming off making her second cut at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, finishing in a tie for 30th. José Marin has one tournament win, as well as three top five showings and has finished in the top 20 in all seven collegiate tournament appearances. In her last outing at the MountainView Collegiate, José Marin was the runner-up with an 8-under 208 (72-66-70). She leads the team in scoring average (70.45), rounds at par or better (16) and rounds in the 60s (6).
Kendall Todd has been a consistent piece for the Hogs and will play No. 2 in the lineup. She holds three top 10 finishes and five top 20 showings, including a runner-up finish at The Bruzzy, in which she logged a 1-over 211 (71-70-70). Her other top 10 finishes came at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate and Blessings Collegiate Invitational, in which she tied for eight and 10th, respectively. Todd is second on the team in scoring average at 72.22 with 12 rounds at par or better and leads the Hogs 265 pars. She will be making her first appearance at the SEC Championship this week.
Miriam Ayora will play at No. 3 to make her ninth tournament appearance of the season, one of two to play in all eight. Ayora is ranked No. 74 in the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd rankings. She is coming off tying for 14th at The Bruzzy, in which she carded a 6-over 216 (71-74-71). Ayora paces the Hogs with 80 birdies, while holding a 72.39 scoring average with 13 rounds at par or better. This marks Ayora’s third appearance at an SEC Championship.
Reagan Zibilski will play in her ninth tournament this season, being the other Hogs on the team to appear in all nine lineups this season. At No. 4 in the lineup, Zibilski will play in her second SEC Championship. She is coming off tying for 19th at The Bruzzy for her fourth top 20 showing of the season, logging an 8-over 218 (75-69-74). Zibilski holds at 72.74 scoring average with 12 rounds at par or better.
Kajal Mistry rounds out the lineup at No. 5. Mistry picked up her sixth top five finish in her Arkansas career with a tie for fourth a 2-over 212 (69-72-71) at The Bruzzy. She has appeared in five lineups this season, sporting a 72.64 scoring average with four rounds at par or better and three top 20 showings. Mistry is making her fourth appearance at an SEC Championship.
Giovanna Fernandez will be the alternate for the Hogs at the SEC Championship. She has played as an individual at four tournaments this season, coming off a career best eighth place showing at The Bruzzy with a 4-over 214 (71-74-69). Fernandez has a 74.18 scoring average with three rounds at par or better. The junior played at the 2022 SEC Championship and can be used in this year’s tournament as a substitute.
As the No. 8 team in the country, Arkansas has sat inside the top 10 in each week’s inaugural Scoreboard Powered by Clippd rankings. The team has three wins, tied for the second most in school history and most since 2013-14, as well as six top five showings.
COMPETING TEAMS (SCOREBOARD BY CLIPPD RANKINGS)
- Alabama (34)
- Arkansas (8)
- Auburn (10)
- Florida (15)
- Georgia (23)
- Kentucky (33)
- LSU (5)
- Ole Miss (13)
- Mississippi State (29)
- Missouri (76)
- South Carolina (2)
- Tennessee (40)
- Texas A&M (18)
- Vanderbilt (20)
COURSE
Pelican Golf Club – Belleair, Fla. – Par 70 – 6,150 yards
LIVE SCORING
UP NEXT
NCAA Women’s Golf Regionals will take place from Monday, May 6 to Wednesday, May 8 at one of six locations: Auburn, Alabama (Auburn University Club), Cle Elum, Washington (Tumblecreek Club), College Station, Texas (Traditions Club), East Lansing, Michigan (Forest Akers Golf Course), Las Vegas (Spanish Trail Country Club) and Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Bermuda Run Country Club).
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 and Instagram at @RazorbackWGolf and check out our Facebook page “Razorback Women’s Golf.” Stats, news and player information can be found at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
