March 11, 2003

Gamecocks Finish Seminole Intercollegiate in Third Place

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina tied its best finish of the season of third place after blasting a three-round score of 858 at the Seminole Intercollegiate in Tallahassee, Fla. North Carolina won the team title after firing 849. South Carolina was the top finisher of the Southeastern Conference schools; Tennessee was five strokes behind the Gamecocks.

With two holes remaining in the second round, play was suspended due to darkness last night. The Gamecocks completed round two early this morning and posted the lowest team score of the tournament with a twelve-under-par 276. Riding a seven-under-par score of 65 shot by redshirt junior Nash Elliot, South Carolina vaulted to second place before entering the third round. In the process, the team set a new 18-hole tournament record.

Elliot’s second round score of 65 is the third lowest score posted in South Carolina history. Only four other Gamecocks have tallied a low round score of 65. Elliot was not the only Gamecock to prove successful in the seond round of play. Eirik Johansen and Alex Hamilton both fired two-under-par scores of 70 , while teammate Martin Rominger posted 71. Closing out the five-man squad was West Streib, who shot 73.

Johansen shot 212 to finish the tournament in sixth place, marking his fifth top 20 and fourth top 10 finish of the season. Just one stroke behind was Elliot, who tallied 213 to tie for eighth place. Hamilton posted his third top 20 finish of the season after tying for 17th place with a score of 217.

Rominger shot 219, while Streib posted a three-round score of 223 to tie for 43rd.

“Our team continues to improve and show promise,” stated Head Coach Puggy Blackmon. “Eirik, as a freshman, continues to play phenomenal. Nash’s performance will be a catalyst for the team in the upcoming tournaments.”

The Gamecocks return to action on March 17-18 at the Cleveland Golf Collegiate in Aiken, S.C., hometown to Gamecock Alex Hamilton.

Gamecock ResultsT6 Eirik Johansen 70-70-72=212T8 Nash Elliot 72-65-76=213T17 Alex Hamilton 72-70-75=217T23 Martin Rominger  76-71-72=219T43 West Streib 77-73-73=223
Team Finishes         1   North Carolina, U of     285  279  285    849       -15         2   Wake Forest Univ.        286  283  286    855        -9         3   South Carolina           290  276  292    858        -6         4   Charleston, Coll. of     282  294  284    860        -4         5   Tennessee, Univ. of      282  293  288    863        -1         6   East Tennessee St.       289  295  285    869        +5         7   Northwestern             297  283  295    875       +11         8   Kentucky, U. of          299  283  294    876       +12             Florida State Univ.      300  288  288    876       +12        10   South Carolina-Aiken     299  288  298    885       +21        11   Georgia State Univ.      296  305  286    887       +23        12   Mississippi, U. of       300  295  294    889       +25        13   Virginia, U. of          297  299  296    892       +28        14   UAB                      294  304  300    898       +34        15   North Florida, U. of     306  307  298    911       +47