May 27, 2010

Golf season didn’t end for South Carolina’s women with last week’s NCAA Championship.

Senior Corrine Carr rolled to victory in the 84th Women’s Carolinas Amateur Championship in Greenville on Thursday, winning by a whopping 12 shots at Furman University Golf Club. Carr posted rounds of 71-69-69=209 (-7) to win her first WCGA title. She was the only player in the field to score under par all three days and carded four birdies in a row on her back nine in the final round.

“This is a nice win for me,” Carr said. “I played pretty steady all week and just stayed patient. I made a lot of putts all week which helped me go low.”

Also, sophomore Katie Burnett earned the second alternate position in sectional qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open on Wednesday, tying for sixth place at White Columns Country Club in Milton, Ga., and falling one shot short of punching her ticket to the national championship.

Burnett posted rounds of 76-71=147 (+3) in the 36-hole qualifier, finishing one stroke behind LPGA Tour players Stacy Prammanasudh, Sarah Lynn Sargent and Irene Cho. After Arizona State’s Jacyln Sweeney made par on the first playoff hole to secure the first alternate spot, Burnett parred the second playoff hole to beat out Carmen Bandea for second alternate.

Former Gamecocks Camila Mori and Meredith Taylor also played in Wednesday’s U.S. Women’s Open qualifier, but failed to advance.

Other Gamecocks – past, present and future – have either already begun or are gearing up for the summer season as well. Burnett will tee it up again next Tuesday, June 1, when she plays in a U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship sectional qualifier in Covington, Ga., while incoming freshman Suzie Lee will play the same day in a qualifier in Lorton, Va. Incoming freshman Katie Rose Higgins played in a USWAPL qualifier at Ironwood Country Club in Greenville, N.C., last week, but failed to advance.

More U.S. Women’s Open qualifying continues for Gamecock golfers as well. The list below details past, present and future student-athletes and their schedule and/or results for qualifying:

• Suzie Lee: May 24, Rockville, Md. (failed to qualify)
• Jenna Pearson: May 24, Long Grove, Ill. (failed to qualify)
• Camila Mori: May 26, Milton, Ga. (failed to qualify)
• Meredith Taylor: May 26, Milton, Ga. (failed to qualify)
• Katie Burnett: May 26, Milton, Ga. (T-6th; second alternate)
• Meredith Swanson: May 30, Ewa Beach, Hawaii
• Samantha Swinehart: June 2, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Katie Rose Higgins: June 3, Sanford, N.C.
• Kristy McPherson: fully exempt

The U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship runs June 21-26 at the Warren Golf Club in Notre Dame, Ind., and the U.S. Women’s Open is slated for July 8-11 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa.