May 19, 2008

Tournament Notes in PDF Format

The South Carolina Lineup
The Gamecocks bring an experienced lineup to the NCAA Championship, although it is the first national tournament event for all five players. The group features three seniors – Blythe Worley, Whitney Simons and Camila Mori – along with sophomores Bénédicte Toumpsin, an All-SEC selection and NCAA East Regional champion, and Taylor Barrett.

Head Coach Kalen Anderson
South Carolina named Kalen Anderson women’s golf head coach in January 2008 following the resignation of 13-year head coach Kristi Coggins. A three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection at Duke, Anderson helped the program to its first national championship in 1999 and earned NGCA second-team All-America status in 2000. After graduating in 2001, she played four years on the FUTURES Tour before returning to her alma mater as an assistant coach for two seasons.

Short Backswing
A few notes about each player’s season and postseason results.

• First-team All-SEC sophomore and NCAA East Regional champion Bénédicte Toumpsin has five top-five finishes to her credit this season and leads the team with a 73.80 average. In four career postseason events (2 SEC, 2 NCAA Regionals), Toumpsin has a 72.83 average, including a 71.67 mark in this season’s two events.
• Senior Blythe Worley is second on the team with a 77.07 stroke average this season. She has played in the NCAA Regional every year of her career, and, including three SEC Championships, has a 76.19 postseason average.
• Senior Whitney Simons is also competing in her fourth NCAA Regional. She has a 76.26 average in a combined eight postseason tournaments.
• Sophomore Taylor Barrett finished in a career-best 14th place in her SEC Championship debut, including a season-best 71 in the final round. She shot 74 in the first round of the NCAA East Regional.
• Senior Camila Mori is third on the team with a 77.38 average this season with two top-25 showings, including 24th at the NCAA East Regional. She has played in four postseason events for the Gamecocks with a 75.25 average.

NCAA Championship History
South Carolina advanced to its first NCAA Championship since 2003 with a sixth-place finish in the East Regional. The Gamecocks have played in eight other championship events with their best finish coming in 1995 when they took ninth. The next year, Siew Ai Lim turned in the best individual showing by a Gamecock as she finished sixth after a final-round 70, the program’s best single round in the event.

Showing Some Medal
Sophomore Bénédicte Toumpsin brought home her first collegiate victory on the grandest stage she had played, winning the NCAA East Regional at UGA Golf Course. It was just the 19th time in school history that a Gamecock was a tournament’s individual medalist. The last Gamecock to win a tournament was Kristy McPherson, who won the Lady Boilermaker Invitational in April 2003. Toumpsin was at or near the top of the leaderboard at the regional from the opening tee shot, carding a career-tying 68 in the first round and turning in a 70 on day two. Her final round was adventurous but showed her mental toughness as she rallied back from quadruple bogey on No. 16 to finish birdie-birdie to finish one stroke better than playing partner Amanda Blumenherst of Duke and Louisville’s Sara-Maude Juneau.

That’s A-Mori
Senior Camila Mori was a key component in the Gamecocks reaching the NCAA Championship for the first time in five years. She played her best golf of the season at the East Regional, turning in a season-best 225 (+9) and grabbing her second top-25 finish of the year.

Rare (Gamecock) Air
With her victory in the NCAA East Regional, sophomore Bénédicte Toumpsin became just the second Gamecock to win the regional event. She joined Siew Ai Lim who won the East Region in 1995 and went on to finish ninth in the NCAA Championship. Toumpsin’s three-round total of 214 (-2) was the lowest by a Gamecock in an NCAA Regional since Kristy McPherson carded a 209 to finish second in 2003.

Molto Bene
South Carolina’s Bénédicte Toumpsin is following her outstanding freshman campaign with a spectacular sophomore effort. Ranked 24th in the Golfstat Cup Standings, she became the first Gamecock to earn first-team All-SEC honors since Adrienne Gautreaux grabbed a spot in 2004. Toumpsin is seventh in the SEC with a 73.80 stroke average, which is the lowest in school history.

Beating the Odds
South Carolina entered the NCAA East Regional as the No. 11 seed and ranked 32nd in the Golfstat Head-to-Head Standings. Of the 20 other teams in the field, 10 ranked ahead of the Gamecocks. Carolina’s 291 in the first round immediately put it in contention to advance, and the Gamecocks held on to finish ahead of four of the teams that had out-ranked them.

South Carolina Ranking
Currently 30th in the Golfstat Head-to-Head Standings, the Gamecocks are one of just six teams in the NCAA Championship field ranked outside the nation’s top 25. The other five are TCU (26), Texas (28), Furman (34), UNLV (40) and UC Davis (44). Seven top-25 teams did not make the championship field.

SEC Hits Lucky Seven
South Carolina is one of seven SEC teams in the NCAA Championship this season, the most teams from one conference in the field. At least one SEC program came out of each region with four advancing out of the East.