South Carolina women’s golf team on a roll heading into final fall event
The coronavirus outbreak that canceled college spring sports seasons wiped out a top-10 campaign for USC’s golf women’s team, but the Gamecocks have served notice in two fall tournaments that great expectations are not just wishful thinking.
Coach Kalen Anderson’s squad began the three-event fall with a third-place finish in a tournament composed of Southeastern Conference teams in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Gamecocks followed the past few days by rolling to the championship in the Ally, another tournament heavy on SEC competition, in West Point, Mississippi.
“Against some of the best teams in the country, we went out and (won),” Anderson said. “That gives us a lot of confidence going forward, and our goals are very high.”
Carolina gets one more chance to make a fall statement in the East Lake Cup, a prestigious invitational in Atlanta that will be televised by the Golf Channel 3-6 p.m. Monday though Wednesday. The Gamecocks will be joined in the women’s field by Texas and SEC rivals Ole Miss and Florida.
“We just want to do our best each week and keep improving,” Anderson said after the Gamecocks’ five-shot win in the Mississippi tournament. “We’ll be coming off a high in Atlanta, but we’ll be excited to be out there again.”
Although two players, one an All-American, opted out of the fall season due to coronavirus concerns and another experienced a problem traveling from her native South Africa, the Gamecocks’ lineup is an ideal mixture of talent and experience. Three of the current five have earned All-America recognition and freshman Paula Kirner is ranked No. 100 in the women’s world amateur golf rankings.
Sophomore Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, No. 4 in the world, ran away with the individual title in Mississippi, posting a 14-under-par 202 for three rounds to win by seven strokes. Her score is the lowest for 54 holes in the program’s history.
“She can go really low any time,” Anderson said of Roussin-Bouchard, who individually has two titles, four top-five finishes and six top 10s in her eight-tournament college career.
Senior Lois Kaye Go placed ninth and sophomore Mathilde Claisse 12th in Mississippi. That Kirner and graduate student Pimnipa Panthong, 27th in the world rankings, finished down the list and USC still won convincingly speaks volumes.
“The beauty of this team is that every player can go low,” said Anderson, in her 14th season at Carolina. “Pauline did it this tournament. The others can do the same. If we get two or three hot at the same time, we’ll be hard to beat.
“Think about this. Pim finished 9 over par for the tournament and we still won by five. That’s a surprise in a way, but that tells about the quality of our depth.”
History suggests that fall success is only the beginning. Anderson focuses on her team peaking for the championship tournaments in the spring, and the record shows the system works. The Gamecocks have won five NCAA Regional titles since 2010 and have advanced to the national championship tourney eight of the past 10 years.
“(The national tournament) is always the goal,” she said. “We’re excited. We just need to keep focused on getting better, and we’ll see how far we can go.”
The two fall tournaments suggest those lofty goals are realistic.
Chip shots. Lexington’s Lauren Stephenson earned an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open, set for December in Houston, with her top-10 finish in the KPMG Women’s LPGA Championship. Seneca’s Austin Ernst and former USC player Nanna Madsen qualified earlier, and, based on world ranking, current USC players Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Pimnipa Panthong could receive spots reserved for amateurs in November. ... USC’s men open play Sunday in the second of three fall tournaments, the Legends Collegiate Invitational in Franklin, Tennessee. The Gamecocks finished fourth in their opener in Arkansas. ... Duke Delcher (Bluffton) captured the SCGA’s Harry Wilson Super Senior Championship for players ages 65-69 at Florence CC. Delcher, a former U.S. Walker Cup player, posted a final 70 for a two-day total of 144, one shot better than Rick Cobb (Taylors) and John Dennis (Greenville). In the Legends Division for players 70 and older, Mike Weiner (Kiawah Island) edged Carey Hite (Columbia) and David Crocker (Bluffton) in a playoff.