Battle-tested South Carolina women’s golf team heads to NCAA national championship

A title from the pen of Charles Dickens — “Great Expectations” — serves nicely to describe Kalen Anderson’s vision for her South Carolina women’s golf teams.

“Our standards are very high,” the veteran coach likes to say.

The results illustrate that her Gamecocks almost always perform at that level, and this year in no exception. Carolina will compete in the NCAA National Women’s Championship tournament for the 12th time in her 16 seasons and 11th in the past 13.

“I like where we are,” she said in previewing the championship that begins Friday at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Reasons for optimism abound.

The Gamecocks are ranked No. 4 nationally, battle tested with the nation’s toughest schedule, feature three players rated among the season’s top 50 and have experience at the championship venue.

And there’s this: A strong performance — second place in team competition and four players in the top 16 individuals — in their regional suggests the team is peaking at the right time.

The national tournament features a split format. The 30 teams play three rounds of stroke play before the field is cut to 15. A fourth stroke-play round determines the individual champion and the eight teams that advance into match play to decide the team title.

“Experience is so important, and all but one of our players have competed on the (Grayhawk) course,” Anderson said. “We played in the national tournament (at Grayhawk) last year and we played a practice round after a regular-season tournament in Arizona in March.

“We know when to be aggressive and when to play conservative. We know we have to play disciplined golf, and we’ve focused on that all spring.”

Plus, the Gamecocks will not be strangers to high-caliber competition. Although Carolina did not win a regular-season tournament, the team placed lower than fifth only once in 11 events against that formidable schedule.

“I always want to play a challenging schedule and we probably play one of the top five every year,” Anderson said. “You want to play tough opponents. You want to play the toughest venues. That prepares you for the end of the year.”

To that end, Anderson also scheduled more match-play opportunities this season with four tournaments featuring at least some head-to-head competition.

“We got in a lot of reps in match play, which helps us to understand the format,” she said.

A pair of sophomore All-Americans, Hannah Darling and Louise Rydqvist, anchor the lineup. They will be joined by seniors Mathilde Claisse and Justine Fournand, freshman Mia Sandtorv Lussand and graduate student Katherine Muzi on the travel squad. Rydqvist and Darling finished two-three in the regional with Claisse 11th and Lussand 16th.

Darling is ranked No. 6 among college players this year and No. 14 in the world among women amateurs. She is a finalist for the player of the year award. She leads the team with four top-five finishes, six top-10s and seven top-20s in nine stroke play starts. Her 71.88 scoring average and 14 rounds of par or better also lead the team.

“We played solid, steady golf in the regional and we’ll need the same in Scottsdale,” Anderson said.

In their previous trips to the NCAAs under Anderson, the Gamecocks have best finishes for fifth in 2012 (stroke-play format) and quarterfinals in 2016 (the second year of match play).

“This opportunity is what we work for all year,” Anderson said. “We have depth and experience. Now, we need to play our game and have fun, and I think we will. There are a lot of positives, and I like where we are.”

This story was originally published May 17, 2023 at 8:00 AM.