May 7, 2008

Tournament Notes in PDF Format

The South Carolina Lineup
The Gamecocks bring a lineup to the NCAA East Regional that is much the same as last year’s group, which finished ninth at the University Club in Baton Rouge, La. The only person head coach Kalen Anderson is missing from the 2007 fivesome is Jenna Pearson, that season’s second-team All-SEC senior leader. The 2008 edition features three seniors – Blythe Worley, Whitney Simons and Camila Mori – along with All-SEC sophomore Bénédicte Toumpsin and sophomore Taylor Barrett, the lone Gamecock making her NCAA debut.

Head Coach Kalen Anderson
South Carolina named Kalen Anderson women’s golf head coach in January 2008 following the resignation of 13-year head coach Kristi Coggins. A three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection at Duke, Anderson helped the program to its first national championship in 1999 and earned NGCA second-team All-America status in 2000. After graduating in 2001, she played four years on the FUTURES Tour before returning to her alma mater as an assistant coach for two seasons.

Short Backswing
A few notes about each player’s season and NCAA results.

• First-team All-SEC sophomore Bénédicte Toumpsin has four top-five finishes to her credit this season, including third at the SEC Championship. She shot 217 to take 26th place in her NCAA Regional debut last season.
• Senior Blythe Worley is second on the team with a 77.11 stroke average. She has played in the NCAA Regional every year of her career, finishing a career-best 34th as a sophomore in 2006.
• Senior Whitney Simons is also competing in her fourth NCAA Regional. She was the team’s second-best scorer in 2005, taking 28th place her freshman year.
• Sophomore Taylor Barrett qualified for four of the team’s five spring events and has a 77.89 average this season. She is coming off a career-best 14th place at the SEC Championship.
• Senior Camila Mori is third on the team with a 77.71 average this season with one top-25 showing. She tied for second on the team at last year’s NCAA Regional, finishing 36th.

Molto Bene
South Carolina’s Bénédicte Toumpsin has followed up her outstanding freshman campaign with a solid sophomore effort. Ranked 30th in the Golfstat Cup Standings, she became the first Gamecock to earn first-team All-SEC honors since Adrienne Gautreaux grabbed a spot in 2004. Toumpsin is seventh in the SEC with a 74.07 stroke average, which is the lowest in school history. She has shown she is on form for the postseason with a third-place finish at the SEC Championship, the best standing for a Gamecock since Kristy McPherson took that position in 2003.

South Carolina Ranking
The Gamecocks are 32nd in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings through April 27. South Carolina is also 32nd in the Golfstat Head-to-Head Standings. On both lists, 10 of the 20 other teams in the NCAA East Regional field are ranked ahead of the Gamecocks.

Gamecocks Against the Field
Of the 20 other teams in the NCAA East Regional field, South Carolina has matched up against 13 of them this season. Two SEC foes have come up the most often as Auburn and Georgia have played in six of the Gamecocks’ nine events this season. South Carolina has not played an event this season with Charleston Southern, Georgia State, Indiana, Jackson State, Jacksonville State, Missouri or New Mexico.

Gamecock History at UGA Golf Course
While not the host team, the Gamecocks are no strangers to the UGA Golf Course. South Carolina has played at the UGA Golf Course in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic every year since 1995. The course also hosted SEC Championships in 2004 and 2002. The Gamecocks’ best 54-hole score on the course is 899, which the 2004 group shot in the SEC Championship. The South Carolina team single-round best was the 293 the team shot in the third round of the Liz Murphey Classic in 2004 as well. Individually, Kristy McPherson holds the team’s best 54-hole score on the course with the 209 she posted to win the 2002 SEC Championship. She opened that event with back-to-back 69s, matching Adrienne Gautreaux’s 69 in the third round of the 2004 Liz Murphey Classic for the lowest round by a Gamecock on the course.