Aug. 28, 2006

Under head coach Kristi Coggins, the South Carolina women’s golf team has enjoyed just about every form of success attainable.

You want on-the-course success? Check. The Gamecocks won the 2002 SEC Championship and have made 11 trips to the postseason in Coggins’ 12 years in Columbia. In 2005, the Gamecocks won the Chrysler Challenge, a tournament whose field consisted exclusively of teams from the SEC and the ACC.

You want off-the-course success? Check. The Carolina golf corps was presented with the National Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Team GPA Award in both 2005 and 2006 for posting the highest team grade point average in the nation both years.

“I am very proud of what this group of young ladies has accomplished,” Coggins said. “To win an award as prestigious as this one in back-to-back years really says something about the quality and the consistency of their work in the classroom. With all of the success that these young ladies have enjoyed in the class in addition to making it to the postseason every year they have been here, this is a group that the University of South Carolina can be proud of.”

“This is another example of the academic excellence our student athletes and teams have achieved at USC,” Athletics Director Eric Hyman said. “We are successfully competing on the highest level in the classroom and on the field of competition.”

The honors and awards that have come out of the Carolina women’s golf program don’t stop there, however.

You want individual recognition? Check. Junior Whitney Simons is the reigning SEC Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year and recently-graduated Erica Battle was the 2006 recipient of the prestigious Dinah Shore Trophy, which is presented to the top women’s golfer in the nation who combines success on the course with success in the classroom, service to the community and extraordinary leadership. Battle was the second Gamecock to win the award in the last three years, as Adrienne Gautreaux was the 2004 recipient.

You want success in the pros? Check. Former Gamecock Kristy McPherson has won two tournaments on the Duramed FUTURES Tour in 2006 and is well on her way to earning her LPGA Tour card. In addition, McPherson is set to appear as a contestant on The Golf Channel’s popular reality series, Big Break VI, Trump National beginning in late September. She is one of five former Gamecocks playing professionally, joining Siew Ai Lim, Clarissa Childs, Marianne Morris, Debbie Eckroth and Gautreaux.

For these reasons, the South Carolina women’s golf program owns a firm spot among Carolina’s Finest; a group of teams or individuals within the South Carolina Athletic Department that best represent the values and mission of Gamecock Athletics.

“We are truly blessed with the type of student-athletes we have been able to attract to the University of South Carolina, not just on the level of being golfers, but also as young ladies,” Coggins said. “The depth of their personalities is remarkable. Whether it be in their faith, their commitment to service in the community or the importance of family in each of their lives, this is a well-rounded group of young ladies and that has been an obvious factor and presence in our program.

“The Gamecock women’s golf family, both present and past is a great source of pride for me as a coach and as a person,” Coggins said. “It is a privilege to be associated with these young ladies.”