Online Version:  https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/arkansas-womens-golf-tees-off-season-at-blessings-collegiate-invitational/

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Women’s Golf will tee off the 2020-21 season at home, as the Razorbacks are set to host the first-ever Blessings Collegiate Invitational alongside the Arkansas Men’s Golf team. The tournament field will be stacked, as all 28 SEC teams on both the men’s and women’s side will take part in the event.   

The Blessings Collegiate Invitational is a 54-hole stroke play competition, with the men’s and women’s teams competing on the same course and in the same conditions throughout the week.  There will be awards for men’s and women’s team and individual competitions, as well as awards for the school with the best overall combined men’s and women’s individual and team scores. 

Leading the Hogs into the 2020-21 season is redshirt junior Brooke Matthews, who will get to start her season at home in Arkansas. Matthews had quite the summer in the Natural State, first winning the Arkansas State Golf Association Stroke Play Championship. She then followed that up with one of the best amateur performances ever at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, finishing tied for 49th at the LPGA event after carding a seven-under 206.  

In the second spot will be sophomore Julia Gregg, one of three sophomores who was a fixture in lineups last season. Gregg was incredibly consistent last season despite it being her inaugural season in college. She placed inside the top-30 individually in four of her six events played, and played rounds over 75 just three times in 18 rounds played.  

Sophomore Ela Anacona holds down the third spot in the Hog lineup ahead of the BCI. The Buenos Aires, Argentina native was stellar in her freshman season, and was placed on both the SEC’s Second Team and the league’s All-Freshman Team as a result. Despite her collegiate inexperience, Anacona showed her polish: in four of the five events she played in, Anacona finished in the top-25. Her worst finish of her first season was 27th. Additionally, Anacona’s 72.33 stroke average last season was the best mark on the team, while also being the 10th-best single-season average in program history.  

Fourth in the Arkansas lineup will be Kajal Mistry, the third of the Hog’s dynamic sophomore trio. Mistry was a regular in the Razorback field last season, as she appeared in all six events before the cancellation of the season. Mistry showed just how good she could be at the 2019 ANNIKA Intercollegiate, placing fourth at the loaded event after firing a 211, tied for the best 54-hole total by a Hog last season.  

Holding down the final spot in the Hogs’ lineup is freshman Cory Lopez, who will be making her collegiate debut at the BCI. Lopez comes to the Blessings as one of the premier golf recruits in the entire world, having won a bevy of events, including the Toyota Junior World Golf Championship in 2019 (70-72-67), the Mexican Amateur Championship (69, 73, 70) the Girls Junior Americans Cup, both as an individual and as part of the Team Mexico, and the Nick Faldo Major Champions (71-71-65).