March 18, 2003

Columbia, S.C. – Firing the lowest round of the Palmetto-Cleveland Golf Collegiate, 282, South Carolina vaulted to a third place finish after the final round in Aiken, S.C. The Gamecocks, led by Alex Hamilton, began the second round in fifth place. College of Charleston won the team title with 569, followed by University of South Carolina-Aiken with 574 and the Gamecocks one stroke back in third place.

Hamilton, a native of Aiken, S.C., led the Gamecocks with a two-round total of 140. Hamilton shot 74 in the first round before blasting five-under-par 66 in the second of play. Hamilton would tie for third place and post his first top 10 finish of the season.

Freshman Eirik Johansen continues to dominate on the course, posting his fifth top 10 finish of his young collegiate career. Johansen, earning a sixth place finish, shot one-over-par in round one and two-under-par 69 in day two.

Shooting a two-day score of 144, Martin Rominger would tie for 15th, en route to tallying his second top 20 finish. West Streib shot 150 to tie for 45th, while Nash Elliot shot 152.

Playing as an individual, Matt Robinson tied for 30th with a two-day total of 147.

South Carolina heads to Statesboro, Ga. for the Schenkel EZ-GO Invitational on March 22-23.

Gamecock FinishesSouth Carolina                  293  282    575T  3    Alex Hamilton            74   66    140T  6    Eirik Johansen           72   69    141T 15    Martin Rominger          72   72    144T 45    West Streib              75   75    150T 58    Nash Elliot              77   75    152
(Playing as an individual)T 30   Matt Robinson             71   76    147

         1   Charleston, Coll. of     288  281    569         2   South Carolina-Aiken     291  283    574         3   South Carolina           293  282    575         4   Kansas, U. of            291  286    577         5   Texas-Arlington          291  287    578         6   Vanderbilt Univ.         294  288    582         7   Va. Commonwealth         296  287    583         8   Maryland, U. of          294  290    584         9   Florida State Univ.      300  287    587        10   Georgia State Univ.      305  284    589        11   Furman University        293  297    590        12   So. Florida, U. of       299  294    593        13   Texas Tech Univ.         304  292    596        14   Tulane University        303  303    606        15   Presbyterian College     304  308    612