Women's Golf Alumna to Compete in the Long Drive Championship

Adrienne Gautreaux-McDonald is still hitting it straight and long. In fact, the former South Carolina golfer (2001-2004) is currently ranked No. 1 on the Ultimate Long Drive Tour and will be competing in the Long Drive Championship in Cayce, South Carolina in October. She may be one of the smaller competitors on the LD tour, but she has become more powerful.

“The last five years, I got into body building,” said Gautreaux-McDonald, who lives in her native Texas and was a part of the 2015 Southeastern Conference Legend’s class. “I was enjoying competing and wasn’t playing a lot of golf because I have two children. Golf has always been my jam though, and as I was training with body building I saw that I was hitting the ball really well! I Googled ‘long drive competitions near me’ and the Ultimate Long Drive Tour was in Dallas, so I signed up for events. I qualified for the World Championships in my second event, and I realized that I was pretty good at this and was winning a lot of events. I hit it 334 yards in my last event to qualify.”

Gautreaux-McDonald has won four tournaments since starting to play in January.

“It’s so much fun, and I still have a lot to learn,” Gautreaux-McDonald said. “I feel like I’m just getting started, and I’m hitting it over 330. So, that’s pretty good.”

This year’s ULD Championships are October 3-4 in Cayce.

“You get six golf balls to hit in two and a half minutes, and you have to hit it in a grid for them to count,” said Gautreaux-McDonald. “The grid can be 50 to 60 yards wide. You have a certain amount of time to be accurate and far. Then it narrows down to two golfers, and you go head to head.”

Gautreaux-McDonald was a part of South Carolina’s first SEC championship team in the spring of 2002. She was a two-time All-SEC honoree, earning a first-team nod after recording the then 12th-best season scoring average in program history at 74.44 in 2004. She posted 20 top-20 finishes including eight in the top 10 and four in the top five. She also earned several scholarly honors as she was a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America and an NGCA All-American Scholar in 2004.

As a senior, Gautreaux-McDonald became the first Gamecock to win the LPGA Foundation Dinah Shore Trophy, which recognizes female collegiate golfers who excel in both academics and athletics – playing in at least 50 percent of the team’s scheduled events – while maintaining a 78.00 or less scoring average. Nominees must demonstrate outstanding leadership skills and community service.

“I had such a great group of girls that I had a chance to play golf with,” Gautreaux-McDonald said. “Winning SECs was a huge highlight. That was my first year as a Gamecock. It was such a neat experience. Also, (South Carolina alumnus) Hootie Johnson was the Chair at Augusta National at the time, and he invited us to play at Augusta. That was amazing!”

After graduating with a degree in experimental psychology, Gautreaux-McDonald played professionally until 2008, and later was part of the golf reality television show “The Big Break.” She later worked in education administration for 15 years as a certified principal and counselor as well as a coach. She and her husband, Brent, now run a successful plumbing business and live in Bullard, Texas, have two children with a 12 year old son, Graeme, and 9 year old daughter, Mia.

She hasn’t been back to campus since 2019, so she is excited to get back into town.

“I want to win a world championship!” Gautreaux-McDonald said. “I’m hoping to see some of my teammates and enjoy the nostalgia of being back in my old stomping grounds.”