No. 18 Gamecocks Open Spring On West Coast Sunday

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – No. 18 South Carolina begins the spring portion of its schedule again on the West Coast at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge (Feb. 1-3). Opening round action gets underway on Sunday at Palos Verdes Golf Club for the 54-hole event.

Carolina is making its third-straight appearance at the event bringing home the team title in 2024.

It’s a loaded field per usual this week at the prestigious early spring tournament with nine programs ranked in the Clippd Top-25 headlined by No. 2 Southern Cal and No. 3 Oregon. No.6 Florida, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 11 Texas join the Gamecocks as SEC teams teeing it up at Palos Verdes.

Carolina’s five-player lineup is highlighted by sophomore All-American Eila Galitksy. She’s ranked No. 13 in the Clippd Player Rankings after three top-10 finishes in the fall which included her second career victory at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate back in September.

She’s joined by junior Maylis Lamoure, junior Vairana Heck, freshman Laura Nepper and freshman Molly McLean. Lamoure had three top-20 finishes in the fall with Heck adding a pair of top-20s in four starts. McLean started the team’s final two fall events finishing T-21^st at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel (Oct. 17-19) and T-18^th at the Landfall Tradition (Oct. 24-26).

Senior Mia Sandtorv Lussand will compete as an indvidiual this week making her season debut. An experienced player with 23 career events played the last three seasons, she earned SEC All-Freshman honors in 2022-23 and was named Second Team All-SEC in 2023-24 in helping Carolina to its fourth-straight NCAA Championship appearance that season.

The Gamecocks will be paired with the Aggies, Trojans and San Jose State for round one tomorrow. McLean will be first off from hole one at 1:12 p.m. (ET) with live scoring available here via Clippd for the duration of the event.

2026 Therese Hession Regional Challenge Gamecock Lineup
1. Eila Galitsky
2. Maylis Lamoure
3. Vairana Heck
4. Laura Nepper
5. Molly McLean
6. Mia Sandtorv Lussand*

* – competing as an indy this week

2026 Therese Hession Regional Challenge Field
1. No. 13 Arizona State
2. Cal
3. No. 6 Florida
4. Kansas
5. Miami
6. Ohio State
7. No. 3 Oregon
8. No. 9 Pepperdine
9. SMU
10. San Jose State
11. No. 18 South Carolina
12. No. 2 Southern Cal
13. No. 11 Texas
14. No. 7 Texas A&M
15. No. 23 UCLA
16. UNLV

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