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Sept. 25, 2005

The Basics
The South Carolina women’s golf team opens the Fall portion of its schedule when it takes part in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Intercollegiate at the University of New Mexico Champions Course in Albuquerque from Sept. 26-28, 2005.

How To Get Results
Results will be available at the end of each day on the official web site of South Carolina athletics, www.uscsports.com. In addition, live scores from the tournament will be kept on www.golfstat.com.

The Field
BYU, Baylor, California, Colorado State, Hawaii, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Ohio State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, South Carolina, Southern Cal, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tulsa, UNLV and UTEP.

Gamecock Lineup For This Weekend
1. Jenna Pearson
2. Erica Battle
3. Blythe Worley
4. Laura McCaslin
5. Camila Mori

* Whitney Simons will compete as an individual.

About The Gamecocks
Senior Erica Battle and junior Jenna Pearson lead the way for a South Carolina team that competed in the NCAA East Regional last year and was only three strokes away from qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Pearson earned a spot in the NCAA Championships as an individual by virtue of the fact that she had the second-lowest score among players representing schools that did not qualify for NCAAs as a team. Sophomore Whitney Simons was a key performer for the Gamecocks last spring and was Carolina’s top finisher at the SEC Championships as a true freshman, carding a 76-73-78=227 to finish 12th on the individual leader board. Simons provided one of the highlights of the year when she aced the par-three 15th hole at the University of Florida Golf Course during first-round play at the NCAA East Regional. Senior Laura McCaslin, sophomore Laura Raffo and sophomore Blythe Worley also saw action in 2004-05.

Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Transfers To South Carolina
Last year’s Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year Camila Mori transfered to South Carolina after one season at Campbell University as is eligible to compete for the Gamecocks this year. A native of Santiago, Chile, Mori posted a 75.57 stroke average as a freshman at Campbell in 2004-05 and had five top-five finishes. Mori shot a 76-75-78=229 to finish fifth at the 2005 Atlantic Sun Championships en route to earning her school’s nomination for Atlantic Sun Female Athlete of the Year. She carded a season-low round of 71 on the final day of the Edwin Watts Palmetto Intercollegiate, then matched that figure with a 71 in the first round of the Samford Intercollegiate. Mori was the number-one ranked junior in her native Chile and was the 2003 National Amateur Champion. She has played for Chile on both the adult and junior levels, including the 2001 South American Junior, where she helped her team to the championship. Mori has participated in the World Amateur Championship and the Junior World Championships four times and finished among the top 20 in each of the last two World Juniors.

Gamecocks Recognized As 2004-05 NGCA Team of the Year
With a cumulative team grade point average of 3.752 for the 2004-05 academic year, the South Carolina women’s golf team was announced as the inaugural recipient of the National Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Team G.P.A. Award. Under head coach Kristi Coggins, academic excellence has become a staple of the Gamecock women’s golf program. The women’s golf team finished the 2004 fall semester with a 3.671 overall GPA, which marked the highest team GPA since the Carolina athletic department began charting the figure on team-by-team basis in 1996, then turned in a combined 3.832 GPA in the spring semester to shatter the record it had just set. For the second consecutive year, no school in the country placed more of its women’s golfers on the National Golf Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete team than South Carolina, as six Gamecocks earned spots on the team in 2005. Erica Battle, Tiffany Catafygiotu, Jenna Pearson, Caroline Rominger, Whitney Simons and Blythe Worley were all recognized for their performance in the classroom.

Last Year’s McGuire
Georgia took both the team and individual titles in 2004. Led by a record-breaking performance from Kelly Froelich, the 2nd-ranked Bulldogs were the only team in the 17-team field to finish under par at 2-under 874, seven shots better than host New Mexico. Froelich set a McGuire tournament mark by firing a 10-under 209 over 54 holes.

McGuire History
The 2005 season marks the 27th anniversary of the Dick McGuire Golf Invitational. From its beginning in 1979, the McGuire Invite annually showcases the best that women’s college golf has to offer. The origin of the McGuire dates back much earlier than 1979. From 1956 to 1978 the top women’s teams in the nation competed with men’s teams at the William H. Tucker Invitational. The combined tournament each fall was the premier college golf event of its time. This event grew in such magnitude for both the men and the women that each side needed its own separate tournament. So in 1979 the women’s field branched off to the McGuire Invitational, while the men still play the Tucker. Both tournaments remain staples on the respective schedules of all the top college golf programs in the country today. In the 24 previous tournaments, the team champion from the McGuire has gone on to capture the NCAA Division I Golf Championship seven times. Branch Law Firm in Albuquerque became the title tournament sponsor of the Dick McGuire Invitational in 2003-04.

What’s Next
South Carolina competes in the Lady Tar Heel Invitational hosted by the University of North Carolina at the Finley Golf Course from October 7-9.