No. 9 Women's Golf Opens Season at Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Preseason top-10 Arkansas women’s golf’s road to the NCAA Championship begins on Friday morning at the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California.

The Razorbacks were ranked No. 10 in Golfweek’s preseason rankings and No. 9 in Golf Channel’s preseason top 30 teams and players. Junior Maria José Marin earned numerous preseason honors, including preseason first-team All-American nods from Golfweek and Golf Channel and a spot on the ANNIKA Award Preseason Watch List. Sophomore Clarisa Temelo picked up third-team All-American honors from Golf Channel.

Live scoring is available via Scoreboard by Clippd.

The event runs from August 29-31 and will be played in the unique 6-count-5 format. Arkansas’ first round tee times are listed below.

TEE TIMES (CT)
9:46 – Abbey Schutte
10:04 – Natalie Blonien
10:13 – Anna Kate Nichols
10:22 – Clarisa Temelo
10:40 – Reagan Zibilski
10:44 – Maria José Marin

Here is Arkansas’ 2025-26 scouting report via Golf Channel’s Brently Romine:

Final 2024-25 rank: 2
2025 NCAA Championship finish: Quarterfinals (sixth in stroke play)
Returning: Maria Jose Marin (Jr.), Clarisa Temelo (Soph.), Reagan Zibilski (Sr.), Abbey Schutte (Jr.), Natalie Blonien (Soph.), Anna Kate Nichols (Soph.)
Departed: Kendall Todd, Giovanna Fernandez, Cory Lopez
Arriving: Swetha Sathish (Fr.), Sayers Allen (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Marin, Temelo, Zibilski, Schutte, Blonien
Scouting report: Behind NCAA individual champion Marin, the Razorbacks reached the NCAA match play for the first time since 2019 before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual NCAA champion Northwestern. They also won a match at SECs for the first time since winning conference in 2018. While the graduation of Todd will sting, the most important thing is that Marin is back. The gifted ball-striker put in a lot of time refining her game from inside 100 yards this summer, and the hope is her playing in two majors will mature her game even more as she contends for national player of the year. The unassuming Temelo might be a better iron player than Marin, and she followed a nice freshman campaign (five top-10s, including a regional runner-up, plus a Women’s Amateur Latin America win) by nearly making the Evian cut this summer. Zibilski tailed off after a great fall, though she won the Missouri Women’s Amateur this summer and made match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Schutte also made match play at Bandon, and along with Blonien and Nichols will play Arkansas’ 6-count-5 season opener, the Carmel Cup. The two freshmen didn’t qualify for that, but Sathish came close and should adjust to the college game fairly quickly. While Arkansas probably wasn’t as good as its No. 2 national ranking last season, it wasn’t far behind, and head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor believes that a heightened focus on match play and pressure situations this year will prove the difference. For example, the last three holes of the Razorbacks’ qualifiers for Carmel Cup were worth double. “We’ve got to have a little different mindset and finish a little stronger,” she said, “so we’re doing some things to really challenge the girls coming down the stretch and prepare them for moments of winning.”

For more information on Arkansas women’s golf, follow @RazorbackWGolf on social media.