March 6, 2015

Day 1 Results

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – On a cold, windy day, No. 2 South Carolina finished the first round of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in eighth place at 15-over (299). The Gamecocks are the host of the 54-hole event at the Long Cove Club in Hilton Head Island.

After making the turn tied for the lead at 3-over, the Gamecocks struggled on the back nine, recording just three birdies.

Sophomore Jia Xin Yang led the Gamecocks in the first round with a 1-over 72. Yang carded five birdies, tying with two others for most of the day, and is in a tie for 10th place. Junior Mary Fran Hillow was two strokes behind her with a 3-over 74 (T22).

Sophomore Katelyn Dambaugh finished at 5-over after carding a first-round 76 to sit in a tie for 48th place. Junior Sarah Schmelzel was 6-over in the opening round. Her 77 is good enough to tie for 56th. The Gamecocks dropped senior Justine Dreher’s score. Dreher carded an 8-over 79 (T66).

Playing as an individual, freshman Ainhoa Olarra was 2-over on the day with a 73.

No. 3 Southern Cal fired a 1-over 285 to sit atop the team standings after the first round. At 7-over, LSU is in second place. Arkansas, Duke and North Carolina all finished at 9-over to tie for third after the first day. The Trojans’ Gabriella Then leads the individuals at 2-under. Four other players are tied for second at 1-under.

The Gamecocks will tee off in the second round starting at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. Follow live scoring here.

QUOTABLE

South Carolina Head Coach Kalen Harris
I thought we got off to a solid start today. The team looked really good, then we turned to the back nine, which is definitely the most challenging side, and had some bogeys. Unfortunately, we couldn’t recover from them and they started to build on one another. In general, it was a tough day. I was really proud of the way the bottom of the lineup played. Jia Xin at 1-over and Mary Fran at 3-over turned in very solid rounds today in the cold, cold weather. Ainhoa, our individual, was very solid at 2-over. The bottom of the lineup did a great job. Tomorrow, we just need the other half to step up. Certainly, about half of the round today looked really, really good. We need to stay patient and hopefully we’ll get better tomorrow and Sunday. The rest of the field is going to have to play a difficult golf course as well. There’s a lot of golf left and we’ve got to go out and give it our best.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESULTS

T10. Jia Xin Yang (5) 72 (+1)
T17. Ainhoa Olarra (Ind.) 73 (+2)
T22. Mary Fran Hillow (4) 74 (+3)
T48. Katelyn Dambaugh (3) 76 (+5)
T56. Sarah Schmelzel (2) 77 (+6)
T66. Justine Dreher (1) 79 (+8)

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Southern Cal 285 (+1)
2. LSU 291 (+7)
T3. Arkansas 293 (+9)
T3. Duke 293 (+9)
T3. North Carolina 293 (+9)
T6. Auburn 298 (+14)
T6. Arizona State 298 (+14)
8. South Carolina 299 (+15)
T9. Furman 300 (+16)
T9. Tennessee 300 (+16)
T9. Mississippi State 300 (+16)
12. Vanderbilt 301 (+17)
T13. Alabama 303 (+19)
T13.Georgia 303 (+19)
T13. Wake Forest 303 (+19)
16. Virginia 304 (+20) 17. Kentucky 310 (+26)