Arkansas leads star-studded field after round 1 of ANNIKA Intercollegiate

   Arkansas continued its red-hot start to the 2017-18 women’s college golf season as the Razorbacks matched par in rainy weather to grab the lead after the opening round of the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, presented by 3M, Sunday at Olympic Hills Golf Club in Eden Prairie, Minn.

   I wouldn’t be surprised if half of the eight teams still standing for match play when the NCAA Championship gets to that point next May at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. come out of this elite field of 12 gathered for the ANNIKA Intercollegiate.

   Arkansas was anointed the No. 1 team by Golfweek in its most recent rankings, based largely on the Razorbacks’ remarkable 41-under-par showing in winning the team title in Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship at Vanderbilt’s Legends Club a couple of weeks ago.

   Led by Maria Fassi, a junior from Mexico, and Alana Uriell, a senior from Carlsbad, Calif., Arkansas took the lead after Day 1 with an even-par 288 over the challenging 6,288-yard, par-72 Olympic Hills layout.

   South Carolina is three shots behind the Razorbacks in second at 3-over 291. The next three teams behind the Gamecocks are a trio of Pac-12 powerhouses, Stanford in third at 6-over 294, UCLA in fourth at 7-over 295 and Southern California in fifth at 11-over 299.

   Stanford and Southern Cal reached match play in last spring’s NCAA Championships at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., the Cardinal coming up just short of a trip to the final match for a third straight year when they lost to eventual champion Arizona State, another Pac-12 team,  in the semifinals.

   Texas, with U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Sophia Schubert and European Ladies Championship winner Agathe Laisne in the lineup for the first time this fall, is tied with Furman for sixth at 12-over 300.

   Fassi is one of three players tied for third at 2-under 70 after the opening round while Uriell is one of five players tied for sixth at 1-under 71 in this star-studded field.

   Dylan Kim, a junior from Plano, Texas, added a 1-over 73 and is tied for 12^th and Cara Gorlei, a junior from South Africa, had a 2-over 74 and is tied for 14^th for the Razorbacks. Arkansas was able to toss the 4-over 76 posted by Kaylee Benton, a junior from Buckeye, Ariz.

   Sharing the top spot in the individual standings are Southern Cal’s Robynn Ree, a junior from Redondo Beach, Calif., and Stanford’s Mika Liu, a freshman from Beverly Hills, Calif. Each carded a 4-under 68.

   Ree and Liu were on opposing teams in the final of the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Bandon Dunes in Oregon in the spring of 2015 with Liu and Rinko Mitsunaga defeating Ree and Hannah O’Sullivan, 4 and 3, for the title.

   Mitsunaga is a junior on a very strong Georgia team that is also in the field for the ANNIKA Intercollegiate. O’Sullivan, who went on to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur later in 2015, originally planned to attend Southern Cal, but reconsidered and is on Duke’s roster this fall.

   Ree was a quarterfinalist in this summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club. Liu joins a Stanford lineup that includes her teammate on the 2016 U.S. Curtis Cup team, Andrea Lee, a sophomore from Hermosa Beach, Calif., U.S. Women’s Amateur finalist Albane Valenzuela, a sophomore from Switzerland, and U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifying medalist Shannon Aubert, a senior from Stuart, Fla. via France Does that group sound any good?

   Joining Arkansas’ Fassi in the group tied for third at 2-under 70 were Furman’s Natalie Srinivasan, a sophomore from Spartanburg, S.C., and Miami’s Renate Grimstad, a sophomore from Norway.

   Joining Arkansas’ Uriell in the group tied for sixth at 2-under 71 are two South Carolina players, Anita Uwadia, a sophomore from Nigeria, and Lois Kaye Go, a sophomore from the Philippines, Florida State’s Amanda Doherty, a sophomore from Atlanta, and UCLA’s Patty Tavatanakit, a freshman from Thailand.

   I watched Uwadia play a few holes during qualifying in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club. The girl’s got some power.

   Tavatanakit has been the American Junior Golf Association’s top player for the last two years. She joins a UCLA lineup that already includes Lilia Vu, a semifinalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club this summer, and two members of that 2016 U.S. Curtis Cup team, Mariel Galdiano, the qualifying medalist in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green, and Bethany Wu. Vu, though, is not in the lineup for the ANNIKA Intercollegiate.

   Although Tavatanakit is from Thailand, she has made Van Nuys, Calif. her base while competing in AJGA and other junior competitions the last few summers.

   Schubert, Laisne, Valenzuela and Tavatanakit had the early part of their college seasons interrupted because they were in the field for the Evian Championship, the LPGA’s final major of the year played two weeks ago in France. Only Schubert, a senior from Oak Ridge, Tenn., made the cut, finishing tied for 58^th at 4-over 217.