March 22, 2006

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The Basics
The South Carolina women’s golf team heads to Athens, Ga., to compete in the 2006 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, played at the par 72, 6,104-yard University of Georgia Golf Course from March 24-26.

How To Get Results
Results will be available at the end of each day on the official web site of South Carolina athletics, www.uscsports.com, with live scoring kept throughout the tournament on www.golfstat.com.

The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic Field
No. 9 Arkansas, No. 5 Auburn, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Florida State, Furman, No. 6 Georgia, No. 23 Kent State, Michigan State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, No. 19 Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tulane, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 13 Wake Forest, No. 25 Washington

Top Players Competing At The Liz Murphey
Rank* Player, School
No. 3 Maria Martinez, Auburn
No. 5 Jacqui Concolino, Vanderbilt
No. 13 Paige MacKenzie, Washington
No. 14 Whitney Wade, Georgia
No. 15 Taylor Leon, Georgia
No. 18 Amanda McCurdy, Arkansas
No. 23 Stacy Lewis, Arkansas
No. 28 Chris Brady, Vanderbilt
No. 31 Nicole Hage, Auburn
No. 33 Mallory Hetzel, Georgia
No. 36 Amanda Goins, Wake Forest
No. 38 Nanette Hill, Wake Forestv No. 43 Kathleen Ekey, Furman
*team and player rankings according to Golfweek.com

USC Lineup For The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic
1. Erica Battle (Senior; Irmo, S.C.)
2. Whitney Simons (Sophomore; Aiken, S.C.)
3. Laura McCaslin (Senior; Cookeville, Tenn.)
4. Jenna Pearson (Junior; Wheaton, Ill.)
5. Laura Raffo (Sophomore; Rio Cuarto, Argentina)

Last Time Out – Lady Gamecock Classic
South Carolina finished eighth at the 2006 Lady Gamecock Classic, posting a 314-297-303=914 at the event. The host Gamecocks were led by Erica Battle, whose 79-72-74=225 placed her in a tie for 13th on the individual leader board. The senior from Irmo overcame a slow start in the final round to shoot even par for her last 16 holes, highlighted by birdies on No. 13, No. 16 and No. 18. Sophomore Whitney Simons also posted a top-20 finish for the Gamecocks with a 77-72-78=227 to finish tied for 20th on the individual leader board. Playing in her final Lady Gamecock Classic, senior Laura McCaslin carded an 81-78-73=232. Her final-round performance was her best of the weekend, as she kept her scorecard clean with 15 pars. She birdied her final hole of the day. Junior Jenna Pearson and sophomore Camila Mori rounded out the South Carolina effort, as Pearson finished with a 78-75-81=234 and Mori came in with an 80-78-78=236. Competing as individuals with their scores not counting toward the team’s total, sophomore Blythe Worley finished in a tie for 36th on the individual leader board with a 79-76-77=232 and sophomore Laura Raffo finished in a tie for 47th with an 80-77-81=238. Carolina At The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic South Carolina has a long history at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, competing in the tournament in each of the last 12 years. The Gamecocks’ highest finish at the event was a third-place showing in 1995. Carolina finished fourth in 2002. Last year, South Carolina finished 14th at the Liz Murphey. A closer look:

Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic (March 25-27, 2005)
University of Georgia Golf Course (Athens, Ga.)
313-310-322=945 (14th place out of 18 teams)
Caroline Rominger 74-75-81=230 T31st
Jenna Pearson 81-79-78=238 T63rd
Tiffany Catafygiotu 77-77-84=238 T63rd
Erica Battle 81-79-81=241 T71st
Blythe Worley 84-84-82=250 T85th

Carolina Has Liz Murphey Veterans
A trio of current Gamecocks have prior experience at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, as Erica Battle, Jenna Pearson and Blythe Worley have all played at the tournament. A look at their results:

Erica Battle (2005) 81-79-81=241 T71st
Erica Battle (2004) 77-81-72=230 T51st
Erica Battle (2003) 82-84-76=242 T72nd
Jenna Pearson (2005) 81-79-78=238 T63rd
Jenna Pearson (2004) 78-73-76=227 T40th
Blythe Worley (2005) 84-84-82=250 T85th

Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Transfers To South Carolina
Last year’s Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year Camila Mori transfered to South Carolina after one season at Campbell University and competes for the Gamecocks this year. A native of Santiago, Chile, Mori posted a 75.57 stroke average as a freshman at Campbell in 2004-05 and had five top-five finishes. Mori shot a 76-75-78=229 to finish fifth at the 2005 Atlantic Sun Championships en route to earning her school’s nomination for Atlantic Sun Female Athlete of the Year. She carded a season-low round of 71 on the final day of the Edwin Watts Palmetto Intercollegiate, then matched that figure with a 71 in the first round of the Samford Intercollegiate. Mori was the number-one ranked junior in her native Chile and was the 2003 National Amateur Champion. She has played for Chile on both the adult and junior levels, including the 2001 South American Junior, where she helped her team to the championship. Mori has participated in the World Amateur Championship and the Junior World Championships four times and finished among the top 20 in each of the last two World Juniors.

Gamecocks Recognized As 2004-05 NGCA Team of the Year
With a cumulative team grade point average of 3.752 for the 2004-05 academic year, the South Carolina women’s golf team was announced as the inaugural recipient of the National Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Team G.P.A. Award. Under head coach Kristi Coggins, academic excellence has become a staple of the Gamecock women’s golf program. The women’s golf team finished the 2004 fall semester with a 3.671 overall GPA, which marked the highest team GPA since the Carolina athletic department began charting the figure on team-by-team basis in 1996, then turned in a combined 3.832 GPA in the spring semester to shatter the record it had just set. For the second consecutive year, no school in the country placed more of its women’s golfers on the National Golf Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete team than South Carolina, as six Gamecocks earned spots on the team in 2005. Erica Battle, Tiffany Catafygiotu, Jenna Pearson, Caroline Rominger, Whitney Simons and Blythe Worley were all recognized for their performance in the classroom.

What’s Next
South Carolina returns to action when it competes at the Bryan National Collegiate in Browns Summit, N.C., from March 24-26. The Gamecocks finished 15th at the event last year. Wake Forest and UNC-Greensboro co-host the event at the par 72, 6,064-yard Champions Course at Bryan Park. The Bryan National will be Carolina’s final tune-up before competing at the 2006 SEC Championships in Nashville, April 14-16.