Brooke Matthews

Mario Bravante

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – No. 1 Arkansas Women’s Golf put together one of its best rounds in program history on Tuesday afternoon at the Blessings Collegiate, firing a 274 (-14) as a team to surge to the top of the leaderboard by the end of round two. The mark is tied for the fourth-best round in the history of the program. All four of the Hog scores that counted on day two were played by Hogs, led by Brooke Matthews, that are now in the top 11 on the individual leaderboard. The next closest team to Arkansas is UCLA, who sits at four-over, 11 strokes behind Shauna Taylor’s Razorbacks.

Matthews continued her blazing start to the season, firing a 66 in round two of the BCI, matching her own course record at the Blessings. The Rogers product, now at six-under at the event, was a birdie machine during the second round of play, carding seven of them. During her first five rounds of play, Matthews has played all but one of them at 66 or better, putting her current 2021 stroke average at a ridiculous 65.8. Alessia Nobilio of UCLA will present a challenge for Matthews on the final day of her bid to go back-to-back at the Blessings, as she currently sits at three-under, just three shots off Matthews’ pace.

If Nobilio doesn’t catch Matthews, though, two fellow Hogs might have a chance: Both of Taylor’s sophomores, Cory Lopez and Miriam Ayora, have a share of third place heading into the final day of competition at the BCI. Ayora, who is playing in just her third college event, showed her massive potential on Tuesday afternoon, firing a 68 in the second round, the best of her young career so far. Ayora played an extremely clean round on the day, with her only blemish coming on 15, where she doubled. Outside of that, she was brilliant, firing six birdies, giving her 10 for the tournament, trailing only Matthews in terms of birdies from Hogs. Lopez, meanwhile, was great in her own right, going for a 69 over her second 18 holes of the tournament. Lopez, as is her trademark, didn’t make mistakes – she tallied three birdies while playing no bogeys on the day.

Junior Kajal Mistry also fired a round under par on Tuesday, carding a 71, matching her second-best round of the young season. Mistry collected four birdies on the day, three of which came during her first nine holes played. She is currently tied for 11th place at three-over.

Fellow junior Julia Gregg fired a four-over 76 on day two, and is tied for a share of 37th place. Freshman Ffion Tynan, who is playing as an individual, fired an 80 on day two, while Ximena Gonzalez, also an indy player, fired an 81.