UA women in tie for fourth at SEC

The University of Arkansas, led by junior Brooke Matthews, sits in a tie for fourth place after the first round of the SEC women’s golf championships Wednesday.

The No. 16 Razorbacks, teeing off at 8:50 a.m. with Auburn and Georgia, navigated the 6,253 yards of Greystone Golf and Country Club in Hoover, Ala., at 9-under 279, tying No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 9 Auburn and No. 24 Florida in fourth place. No. 1 South Carolina and No. 4 LSU are tied for first at 16-under 272. Mississippi State has sole possession of third place at 13 under.

Matthews, of Rogers, shot a 6-under 66 to tie for second place with LSU’s Alden Wallace. They are two strokes behind South Carolina’s Ana Palaez.

Arkansas sophomore Kajal Mistry fired seven birdies en route to a 2-under 70 and a tie for 25th. Freshman Cory Lopez was a shot behind at 71 and tied for 30th, and sophomore Ela Anacona carded an even-par 72 to tie for 38th. Sophomore Julia Gregg was at 5 over 77 and in a tie for 64th.

The Razorbacks will tee off at 8 a.m. along with Alabama and Vanderbilt.

The teams will conduct two more rounds of stroke play through Friday before the top eight teams will begin match play Saturday.

Trailing the Razorbacks are eighth-place Alabama (-8), Vanderbilt (-7), Tennessee (-2), Kentucky (-1), No. 10 Georgia (+2), Texas A&M (+3) and Missouri (+5).