Arkansas grabs three-shot lead over Kent State as women's college golf gets going again in UCF Challenge

    Most of the teams teeing it up in the opening round of the UCF (as in University of Central Florida) Challenge Sunday at the Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. were playing their first rounds of competitive college golf since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the wraparound 2019-2020 season last March.

   One exception was Southeastern Conference power Arkansas, which, along with its SEC counterparts and teams from the Big 12, did get in some tournaments last fall. That might help explain the presence of the Razorbacks at the top of the leaderboard with a 15-under-par 273 opening round over the 6,349-yard, par-72 Eagle Creek layout.

   But even Arkansas was playing its first round after the traditional midseason break in the college season. A lot of teams in the large 17-team field played pretty well and I suspect many of the women teeing it up in a college golf tournament again were beyond thrilled just to be out there competing.

   Kent State, for instance, was playing as well as any team in the country under then-first-year coach Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion at Lansdale Catholic. When the Golden Flashes won the UCF Challenge a year ago, it was their fourth team title in their last five tournaments. When the pandemic halted the season in mid-March, Kent State was No. 6 in the Golfstat rankings.

   The premature end of the season hurt everybody, but Kent State had a pretty good thing going and will be forever left wondering what if.

   The Golden Flashes, behind individual leader Emily Price, a junior from England who fired a sizzling 7-under 65, were alone in second place, three shots behind Arkansas at 12-under 276.

   Wake Forest was ranked No. 1 by Golfstat when the 2019-’20 season came to a sudden and stunning end. The Demon Deacons picked up right where they left off last March as they were tied for third with Atlantic Coast Conference rival Miami at 11-under 277. The American Athletic Conference’s Houston was three shots behind Wake Forest and Miami in fifth place at 8-under 280.

   It was a really encouraging start for Denise St. Pierre’s Penn State team as the Nittany Lions opened with a solid 4-under 284. Penn State of the Big Ten Conference, was a non-threatening ninth in the UCF Challenge a year ago.

   The ACC’s Virginia, getting a solid showing in the long-awaited college debut for Tower Hill product Jennifer Cleary, was a shot behind Penn State in seventh place at 3-under 285. Another SEC entry, Mississippi State, was another shot behind the Cavaliers in eighth place at 2-under 286. The Bulldogs were ranked No. 21 by Golfstat when the season ended in March.

   Arkansas was led by Ela Anacona, a sophomore from Argentina, and Cory Lopez, a freshman from Mexico, who were two of the three players tied for second place in the individual standings, a shot behind Price at 6-under 66. The youthful Razorbacks had a third player in the top six as Miriam Ayora, a freshman from Spain, was part of a nine-player logjam tied for sixth place at 3-under 69.

   Arkansas’ most experienced player, Brooke Matthews, a redshirt senior from Rogers, Ark., matched par with a 72 and was part of a large group tied for 31^st place. Rounding out the Arkansas lineup was Kajai Mistry, a sophomore from South Africa who was among the group tied for 62^nd place with a 3-over 75.

   Price finished strong, making birdies on four of the last five holes, including the last three in a row, in her brilliant eight-birdie, one bogey 65 that gave her the individual lead.

   Joining Arkansas’ Anacona and Lopez in the tie for second place at 66 was Wake Forest’s Rachel Kuehn, a sophomore from Asheville, N.C. and No. 34 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Kuehn earned herself one of those iconic Putter Boy trophies with her victory in the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship last summer at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

   You tune into this blog, you’re going to get some Curtis Cup intrigue. Kuehn and her teammate Emilia Migliaccio, a senior from Cary, N.C. and No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, got to Orlando early as they were coming off a two-day practice session Friday and Saturday for candidates for this year’s U.S. Curtis Cup team at nearby Lake Nona Golf & Country Club under the watchful eye of U.S. captain Sarah Ingram.

   Migliaccio was a throw-out for Wake Forest with a 77 Sunday, which is about as bad as she can possibly play.

   Price, the leader, is on a preliminary list of 17 candidates for the Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team released by the Royal & Ancient last fall. As is her Kent State teammate Coley McGinty, a sophomore from England who was part of that big group tied for sixth place at 3-under.

   As is Wake Forest’s Lauren Walsh, a sophomore from Ireland and No. 42 in the Women’s WAGR who backed up her potential Curtis Cup rival Kuehn by also joining the group at 3-under. Got all that. Hard to believe you can get a little Curtis Cup preview in the UCF Challenge, but there you go.

   The Curtis Cup Match, originally scheduled to be played in June of 2020, is now set to tee off Aug. 26 at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales.

   Sitting alone in fifth place in the individual standings was Miami’s Kristyna Frydlova, a junior from the Czech Republic who posted a 4-under 68 that left her two shots behind the trio tied for second place.

   Frydlova’s teammate, Renate Grimstad, a senior from Norway, was also in the large group at 3-under. Grimstad is one of the many players who returned for a fifth season after the NCAA offered an extra year of eligibility to make up for the lost spring of 2020. Grimstad was having an outstanding season when it came to a premature end last spring, including grabbing the individual title and leading the Hurricanes to a strong third-place finish in the UCF Challenge a year ago.

   Virginia had two players, Riley Smyth, a junior from Cary, N.C., and Celeste Valinho, a sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., in that nine-player tie for sixth place at 3-under. Smyth battled her way to the quarterfinals in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md.

   The third-best score turned in by a Cavalier in Sunday’s opening-round was the even-par 72 registered by Cleary, who landed in the group tied for 31^st place. Coming off an outstanding junior career, the Wilmington, Del. native saw the fall campaign of her freshman season at Virginia called off by the pandemic, but she was ready to go when she made her debut for the Cavaliers Sunday.

   Rounding out the group at 3-under were Iowa State’s Liyana Darisic, a freshman from Malaysia, Kennesaw State’s Tai Anudit, a senior from Thailand, and North Carolina Wilmington’s Mallory Fobes, a sophomore from East Bend, N.C.

   Leading the way for Penn State were Mathilde Delavallde, a sophomore from France, and fifth-year senior Megan McLean, a Voorhees High product, both of whom joined the group tied for 15^th place, each signing for a 2-under 70. Delavallde had a strong freshman season cut short by the pandemic while McLean is another player who decided to take up the NCAA on its offer of an extra year of eligibility.

   Three more Nittany Lions, Sarah Willis, a junior from Eaton, Ohio, Isha Dhruva, a sophomore from Katy, Texas, and Victoria Tip-Aucha, a freshman from Thailand via Vienna, Va., matched par with 72s to round out a really strong showing in Penn State’s opener.

   St. Pierre brought along sophomore Taylor Waller, a Canon-McMillan product, to play as an individual and Waller carded a 3-over 75 and was among the group tied for 62^nd place.