Oct. 3, 2005

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The Basics
The South Carolina women’s golf team heads to Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete in the Lady Tar Heel Invitational, played at the par-72 Finley Golf Course Oct. 7-9.

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.

Lady Tar Heel Invitational Field Auburn, Duke, Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, North Carolina, NC State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Tulsa, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest.

Gamecock Lineup For The Lady Tar Heel
1. Laura McCaslin 2. Whitney Simons 3. Camila Mori 4. Jenna Pearson 5. Erica Battle

* Blythe Worley will play as an individual

Last Time Out
South Carolina finished ninth out of 18 teams at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 26-28 with a three-day score of 300-312-294=906. Leading the way for Carolina was senior Laura McCaslin, who finished the tournament tied for 12th on the individual leader board with a three-day score of 72-76-71=219. Though her score did not count toward the team’s total, sophomore Whitney Simons matched McCaslin’s score and finished the tournament with a score of 75-73-71=219 to place in a tie for 12th on the individual leader board. Also shooting a two-under-par 71 in the final round was sophomore Camila Mori, who finished the tournament tied for 38th with a 77-79-71=227. Mori shaved a full eight strokes off her second-round showing with a very steady showing, firing three birdies and only one bogey in the final round.

Individual Results From Dick McGuire IntercollegiateT12 Laura McCaslin   E   72-76-71=219T12 Whitney Simons* E   75-73-71=219T38 Camila Mori +8  77-79-71=227T53 Jenna Pearson +11 74-79-77=230T59 Erica Battle   +12 77-78-76=231T74 Blythe Worley +16 80-79-76=235<>
* Played as an individual with her score not counting toward the team total.

Gamecocks to Watch
Senior Erica Battle and junior Jenna Pearson are two of the key figures 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.

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.

What’s Next
South Carolina competes ACC/SEC Challenge hosted by the Florida State at the par-71 Raven Course at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Sandestin, Fla., from October 7-9.