Feb. 13, 2014

Notes | Live Scoring

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Women’s Golf team begins its spring slate on Friday at the Florida State Match-Up in Tallahassee, Fla. The 54-hole event runs through Sunday at the SouthWood Golf Club, which features a par-72, 7,172 yard layout.

“It’s a new event for us,” said Head Coach Kalen Harris. “We’re kind of switching it up a little bit in the beginning of the spring. The East Regional is going to be at the SouthWood Golf Club in Tallahassee later on in the spring and potentially we can play in the East Regional. It’s a good opportunity for us to see the golf course.”

South Carolina enters the spring ranked No. 14 in the Golf World/WGCA Division I College Women’s Coaches Poll, the Golfstat Rankings and the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings.

The Gamecocks wrapped up their fall schedule at the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, N.C., securing their fourth straight top-10 finish and third straight top-five finish of the season as they claimed fourth place.

Harris was pleased with her team’s performance during the fall season but said they still put in a lot of work during the winter break. “We really focused a lot on our short game,” said Harris. “We usually do [practice our short game] in the off-season but we did it a little bit differently this year. We did a lot of individual work focused on each player’s specific needs and we also did a lot of work on the mental side of things. I think the team is ready to go.”

This weekend’s lineup will include seniors Suzie Lee and Samantha Swinehart, junior Justine Dreher, sophomore Sarah Schmelzel and freshman Katelyn Dambaugh. Freshman Jia Xin Yang will make her first collegiate appearance as she competes in the tournament as an individual.

Lee competed in three of the four tournaments during the fall with her best finish coming at the Cougar Classic as she tied for 19th place carding a 2-over 218. Swinehart, Dreher, Schmelzel and Dambaugh competed in all four tournaments during the fall and accounted for a combined 16 rounds of par or better. Swinehart posted two top-ten finishes including a career-best tie for second place at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship. The Lancaster, Ohio native wrapped up the fall with a stroke average of 73.63. Dreher also finished two tournaments in the top ten as she tied for sixth place at the Cougar Classic and claimed seventh place at the Tar Heel Invitational. Schmelzel’s best finish of the fall came at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship as she tied for 12th place. Dambaugh closed out the fall with a team-leading 73.18 stroke average and posted two top-ten finishes, the first of which was a tie for eighth place at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship. The Goose Creek, S.C. native then recorded a career-best finish at the Landfall Tradition as she tied for fourth place.

“Everybody performed pretty well but Katelyn definitely stepped up,” Harris said of her team’s fall performance. “She [Dambaugh] is playing particularly well right now, she just needs to keep on with her process and not get ahead of herself. She’s playing some really solid golf and I think we’ll continue to see that from her throughout the spring.”

South Carolina and No. 11 Clemson are the only teams currently ranked in the Golf World/WGCA Division I College Women’s Coaches Poll. Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Furman, Kansas, Kansas State, Mercer, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Virginia round out the 12-team field.

During the first two rounds of the tournament teams will tee-off in twosomes which consist of partners playing together, South Carolina is paired with Notre Dame for this purpose. At the end of the tournament a match-up champion will be crowned along with a team and individual winner.

First round play begins Friday at 8:30 a.m. Live scoring will be available here