Sept. 11, 2010

GolfStat Live Scoring

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina, coming off one of its best seasons in program history, tees it up for the first time in the 2010-11 campaign on Sunday at the Cougar Classic. The tournament runs Sunday through Tuesday at Yeamans Hall Club in Hanahan, S.C., just outside Charleston.

The 2010 NCAA East Regional Champion Gamecocks will have the luxury of sending out the entire roster of six players for this week’s tournament – five starters and one individual. And with three freshmen and only two players that competed in a majority of the events last season, the experience for all six players will be invaluable.

The team lineup will be led by junior Katie Burnett (Brunswick, Ga.), an All-SEC and All-America selection a year ago. Sophomores Amanda Strang (Jonstorp, Sweden) and Meredith Swanson (Roanoke, Va.) will also compete, along with true freshmen Samantha Swinehart (Lancaster, Ohio) and Suzie Lee (East Northport, N.Y.). The team’s third freshman, Charleston native Katie Rose Higgins, will compete as an individual and provide valuable insight on a course she has played numerous times.

In its last trip to the Cougar Classic in 2008, South Carolina finished in seventh place after a final-round 296 (+8), shooting 882 for the week. Burnett, playing in her first collegiate event as a freshman, went 70-70-73=213 (-3) to earn an eighth-place finish, the first of four top-10s in her career thus far. None of the other Gamecocks have played in this event.

A total of 20 teams will tee it up this week, including three ranked in the Golf World/Nike preseason top 25. No. 18 Florida State and No. 19 Florida, along with the 22nd-ranked Gamecocks, lead the way at the par 72, 6,210-yard Yeamans Hall Club. SEC foes Kentucky, Mississippi and Mississippi State are in the field, along with in-state rivals Charleston Southern, host College of Charleston and Furman. Maryland, Miami, North Carolina and NC State comprise a strong ACC contingent with Minnesota, UNC Greensboro, Oklahoma, Penn State, Richmond, USF, UCF and Wisconsin rounding out the field.

The Gamecocks will be paired with Florida State and Charleston for the first two rounds on Sunday and Monday, teeing off at 10:30 a.m. each day. Tuesday’s final round will be an 8:45 shotgun start. Higgins, playing as an individual, is slated to tee off at 8 a.m. Sunday. Live scoring for the tournament will be available via golfstat.com.