May 17, 2005

Sunriver, Ore. – – South Carolina sophomore women’s golfer Jenna Pearson carded an eight-over-par 79 and sits in a tie for 98th after the first round of the 2005 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships played at the Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore., Tuesday.

Pearson, who is South Carolina’s representative at the tournament, got off to a rocky start Tuesday. Starting her day at the course’s 10th hole, the Wheaton, Ill., native found herself at four over through her first four holes with a bogey, double-bogey, par and bogey. She settled down and rattled off seven consecutive pars before suffering through a second double-bogey on the course’s third hole and a bogey on the very next hole.

Pearson qualified for the NCAA Championships by finishing with one of the two lowest scores among players representing schools that did not qualify as a team at the NCAA East Regional earlier this month. She played her best golf of the year at the Sunriver Resort during the fall, carding a three-round score of 69-74-74=217 to finish in a tie for 14th at the NCAA Fall Preview. Her first-round 69 was the lowest round for any Carolina player this year.

South Carolina has been represented at the NCAA Championships in each of the last seven years. The Gamecocks qualified for NCAAs as a team in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003 and were represented by individual qualifiers in 2000 (Rebecca Lee), 2004 (Adrienne Gautreaux) and 2005 (Jenna Pearson). During coach Kristi Coggins’ 11-year tenure at Carolina, the Gamecocks have qualified for NCAA Regionals 10 times and the NCAA Championships six times, with their best finish coming in 1995, when the team finished ninth.

Second round action resumes tomorrow.