Lopez leads former Hogs at NWA Championship
ROGERS – Arkansas Women’s Golf’s contingent of former Razorbacks got started at the NWA Championship Friday in Rogers, as Kaylee Benton, Maria Fassi, Gaby Lopez, Stacy Lewis, Alana Uriell and Dylan Kim are all through 18 holes of play.
Lopez, who starred for the Razorbacks from 2012-2015, had a great first round, carding a 67. The Mexico City native was especially good on the front, as she birdied four of her first nine to score a 32 before making the turn. That was the low round by any Razorback on the first day. Lopez is currently tied for 22nd going into round two, which was on Saturday.
Returning to the event she won back in 2014,
Lewis currently sits a stroke back of Lopez, as her 68 through round one is good for 32nd overall. The former Razorback National Champion would bogey four, but would be sublime from there, birdieing six, nine, 11 and 15 without carding another bogey the rest of the way.
Coming back to the Natural State for the first time since her coronation as the 2019 NCAA Individual National Champion, Fassi
fired a first-round 70. The two-time SEC Player of the Year was even through nine, and got off to a hot start on the back, carding back-toback birdies on 10 and 11. However, her bogey on 18 would push her back to oneunder through 18.
Uriell, who did not compete in the NWA Championship a year ago, finished strong after two straight bogies on 13 and 14, birdieing 16, 17 and 18 backto-back-to-back to finish her first round of the tournament at even par. Uriell, who finished her Razorback career last spring, also birdied seven while bogeying four and eight.
Benton, who is making her professional debut at the NWA Championship, also finished day one at even par. The 2019 All-american was steady before and after making the turn, birdieing one, seven and 15 to grab a share of 88th place heading into day number two.
Kim, who qualified on Monday and is playing as an amateur, finished her day at 6-over. However, Kim’s score is a little misleading on the surface; the former Razorback was excellent for most of her round, firing four birdies on the day, but an 11 on the par-five
14th hole pushed her down the leaderboard.
UPDATE:
As of press time, Lopez finished Saturday 4-under and is now tied for 16th overall at 8-under. Lewis birdied her first three holes and now stands at 6-under through six holes Saturday. Benton was even through eight holes Saturday and is currently even overall. Fassi was 1-over through four holes and was even overall. Uriell was 1-under through three holes and was 1-under overall, and Kim shot 4-over for 9-over overall.
Leading the NWA Championship is Carlota Ciganda, who was 12-under overall through seven holes, with Danielle Kang and
Hyo Joo Kim, both finishing Saturday’s round at 11-under and tied for second.