Gamecocks Take Aim at Unfinished Business for 2020-21

Back in March the University of South Carolina women’s golf team wrapped up its final round at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. The Gamecocks took sixth place, not where they expected to be, but after a rough start to the tournament it was a solid finish for a team building toward a postseason run. 

Carolina hovered outside the top ten through the first two rounds before turning things up on the final day and pushing to sixth place in a field full of national championship contenders. The team won a pair of tournaments in the fall and knew that the spring was their chance to prepare for what should be a long postseason run. “I was very pleased to see the team come back with toughness and resilience ahead of the next few weeks” head coach Kalen Anderson said after the tournament. This was on March 8, and as we all know the next week saw everything change.

When all intercollegiate competition was suspended the following week hope remained for a resumption of the season, but that hope was dashed as the severity of the situation became clear. Where the previous goal was to contend for SEC and NCAA championships, the new goal was keeping everybody safe. 

“My first thought was about the team’s health and safety and getting them back to their families,” Anderson said when discussing the team’s reaction to the rest of the season being canceled. “Sports came second at that point. With the help of our administration we did an excellent job getting them where they needed to be. Communicating with the student-athletes and their families, there was a lot of uncertainty at the time, a lot of figuring out what the next step was.”

For a team consisting of mostly international players the challenge of getting student-athletes where they needed to be proved daunting. Some of the women went back to their home countries, others stayed stateside as boarders closed and countries figured out what to do. As the student-athletes posted up wherever they planned to ride out the summer reality finally set in… a season where the Gamecocks had a legitimate shot at a NCAA Championship was done before the team had a chance to win, or lose, on their own terms. 

“Once everybody was settled and safe, we could see the impact of how it felt for the team, that’s when it sunk in,” Anderson continued. “There were a lot of tears, especially for our seniors. But this team knows how to handle adversity, and this was something bigger than us. They understood that. They understood that this was bigger than golf, and bigger than sports. The team was disappointed because we all knew the opportunity that we had in front of us, and the momentum we had.”

Heartbreak wasn’t new for the seniors. The two prior seasons saw the Gamecocks take runner-up at the SEC Championship, falling in a playoff at the 2019 tournament. At the NCAA Regionals in both seasons Carolina took 10th place, missing out on the chance to compete for a NCAA Championship after the team had won three consecutive regionals from 2015-17. But this year was going to be different. 
 
“It was very disappointing because I felt the team was just beginning to settle into their identity,” assistant coach Kevin Williams chimed in. “We had some adversity hit us early in the spring and they had done a great job of putting it behind them. The positivity they showed made Kalen and I very excited to see how the spring would play out.” 

Williams joined the team that prior summer, replacing the legendary Puggy Blackmon as Kalen’s right-hand man, but the expectations never shook him. “It was easy for me last year because of the wonderful student-athletes we have in our program. They are all high achieving, highly motivated individuals that fit the culture Kalen has built here.” 

That culture is a large reason why Lois Kaye Go transferred to South Carolina after a season at Boston College. LK, as she’s known by all her teammates, quickly found a groove with the Gamecocks and made Columbia her home away from home. Entering her senior year, LK knew what was on the line. Two consecutive SEC runner-up finishes, one final chance to bring a conference title and make a run at a national championship, this was the time and the team to really make some noise… until it wasn’t. 

“I was in tears during the meeting when coach told us that our season was officially cancelled,” Go remembers of that day. “Thinking it was my last year, I really wanted a chance to finally bring home the SEC Championship after two years of being so close. I was looking forward to competing for the NCAA Championship for the only time in my college career. Our season being cut short meant that I would be not be able to do any of that… I was devastated. It didn’t feel real at the time and I was still in denial and shock. I couldn’t believe that this was how my college career was going to end.”

Ana Pelaez, a four-year starter for the Gamecocks, also saw what looked to be the end of her college career. Pelaez notched the best freshman season in program history at the time, earning All-America honors in 2017, and was bookending her career with another stellar campaign on her way to 2020 All-America honors. 

“Thinking about not being able to compete for the SEC or NCAA Championship for the last time with such an amazing team and coaches was definitely hard to swallow,” Pelaez recalls. “I remember when coach called me and said, ‘this is the end of your senior year,’ I couldn’t stop crying for the next few hours. It’s not easy to say goodbye to the most important season knowing all the effort everyone put in to be the best we could be.”

It wasn’t just the seniors feeling the sting of a missed opportunity though. Pauline Roussin-Bouchard made an immediate impact upon arriving in Columbia and put together the best freshman campaign in Carolina history, earning two First-Team All-America honors, breaking multiple program records, and holding on to the No. 1 spot in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking for most of the season. In an instant she saw her record-breaking season come to an end before getting to compete on the biggest stage. 

“I was sad and frustrated when the season was cancelled,” Roussin-Bouchard recollected. “It all happened so fast. Our team had amazing potential and we were really looking forward to playing the regionals and nationals.”

In the grand scheme of things losing the end of a season hurt, but everybody had their health and the team was safe, and that’s what truly mattered. The book on the 2019-20 season was closed, but the door was open for something not quite new, but not exactly the same for the 2020-21 season. Coach Anderson knew she had work to do if she wanted to finish the job started that season, and a decision from the NCAA helped pave the way to resolve that unfinished business. 

“You don’t know what everybody is thinking, and they’re in a situation they’ve never encountered,” Anderson said of the discussions with her seniors once the NCAA announced that they could return for a final season in 2020-21. “We had goals we wanted to achieve as a team over those four years with them, and we didn’t achieve those goals. We had a very strong team last season and we were left with unfinished business, and that played into it for LK and Ana.”

There it was, an opportunity to come back and chase that elusive SEC Championship and make a run at the NCAA Championship. But Go and Pelaez returning was not assured. Both planned to pursue professional careers in the near future, but the allure of finishing what they started, and doing it on their terms, was undeniable. 

“I can’t lie, a lot of things went through my mind,” Pelaez said of her decision-making process. “I think the most important thing is that I realized I had an entire lifetime to enjoy my professional career and South Carolina was giving me the chance to become even better before turning professional, and a chance to finish what we started.”

“When the NCAA decided to grant us one more year of eligibility, everything just fell into place and it was an easy decision,” Go added. “I could still finish my studies and compete one more year as a Gamecock. After having our season cut short and not being able to compete during the postseason, I couldn’t pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The table was set. Two All-American seniors returning, the best freshman in program history back for her sophomore year, plus Mathilde Claisse and Smith Knaffle developing their games and getting stronger to go along with the incoming freshmen Paula Kirner, a top-40 WAGR player, and Kaiyuree Moodley, an experienced international competitor herself. The Gamecocks had everything in place, but an unexpected opportunity presented itself to make the team stronger than ever. 

In the same way Pelaez was set to pursue her professional career this fall, Pimnipa Panthong had her plans derailed when the LPGA Q-Series for 2020 was delayed until 2021. Given another year of eligibility, Panthong looked to expand her game after racking up numerous honors over her four years at Kent State, including three All-America honors and two Mid-American Conference Player of the Year awards. 

“We had an open scholarship, and Pim was looking for a place to hone her game for another year and lay those building blocks for her professional career,” Anderson said of Panthong. “We were able to offer her everything she needed. It was a win-win for Pim and us, she gets another year to grow and challenge herself and we get to add another All-American to an already deep roster.”

“What stood out the most for me was the first impression of the coaches,” Panthong said of why she picked Carolina. “I immediately felt comfortable and I am excited to see how this year will go. In addition, South Carolina has a really nice practice facility and the weather conditions allow year-round golf, which will provide me the opportunity to reach my future goals.”

Panthong’s addition gave the Gamecocks a roster with four All-America honorees on it, in addition to other golfers that would immediately challenge for a spot in the starting lineup at most schools. 

“Mathilde brings a wealth of experience,” Anderson gushed when touching on the rest of her roster. “She’s a junior Solheim Cup player that played in every tournament for us as a freshman last year and has a lot of experience from her junior career. Smith developed her game over the summer and can challenge for a spot in the lineup. Paula is a top-40 ranked player in the world that brings a ton of experience from her national team. Kaiyuree Moodley, when she gets here in January, brings the same energy. She took runner-up at the ANNIKA Invitational. We have a boatload of experience even in our younger class that lots of teams would love to have at the front of their lineup.”

Through heartbreak and stumbles along the path, the Gamecocks have grown together and learned that, without each other, none of this is possible. 

“I feel like it has given them extra motivation to compete as hard as they can,” Williams said of the abrupt ending of last season. “It’s given us a greater appreciation for this wonderful opportunity we have to achieve something special in our sport. Our focus has been sharp because you never know when something you desire greatly can be taken away from you.”

“To win a NCAA championship has been the ultimate goal,” Anderson continued. “To win an SEC championship, to win a national championship, win multiple championships and build this program to the championship level. It would mean a lot for our players, it’s about them and their commitment. They’ve been through the adversity; they’ve been through all of it. We’ve gotten close, we’ve had some ups and downs at the SEC Championships and dealt with heartbreaks. This is a great group of players, on and off the golf course.”

Every collegiate athlete dreams of hoisting a championship trophy before their time in college ends, and for the pair of senior Gamecocks that have come so close multiple times, getting over that hump would mean a great deal to them. 

“It would be very special,” Pelaez said of competing for the SEC and NCAA championships. “Every year I had the chance to play I have dreamed about winning those tournaments. I remember picturing myself making the last putt at either Championship while practicing. Winning them would make me feel like my journey as a Gamecock ended on a perfect note.”

“Winning both the SEC Championship and NCAA Championship would definitely mean the world to me,” Go added. “It’s not just about the title but also the honor and pride that we can give to and share with the Gamecock community.”

The Gamecocks open the 2020-21 season at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 5-7 before competing at The Ally at Old Waverly on Oct. 19-21 and wrap up their fall slate at the East Lake Cup on Oct. 26-28. 

“It’s just, for all of them, it would mean the world to them,” Anderson concluded. “Everybody on this team is fully committed, the students, me, we had Kevin join our staff last year and he’s as bought in as anyone can be. If we stay committed to the process, we’ll get a national championship eventually, it’s just a matter of when, but these players are great people. They’re committed, they live with integrity and do things the right way. I’m just proud of who they are and how they’ve grown. They deserve whatever success comes to them.”