Sept. 13, 2010

HANAHAN, S.C. – A round of even-par 288 on Monday kept the South Carolina women’s golf team at 3-over through two rounds and moved them up to second place at the 21-team Cougar Classic. Junior Katie Burnett came through with a round of 69 (-3) to lead the Gamecocks at Yeamans Hall Club.

After an opening round of 75, Burnett was six shots better and pulled back to even-par for the tournament with a round of 3-under-par 69 on Monday. A bogey at the first was followed by back-to-back birdies at Nos. 3 and 4 to get her under par for the day, but a bogey at the sixth hole dropped her back to even par. However, the product of Brunswick, Ga., would be error-free the rest of the day, carding birdies at 10, 15 and 18 with no bogeys to post a round of 3-under and move into a tie for eighth place at even par.

Also at even par through 36 holes is freshman Samantha Swinehart, who shot 73 (+1) in her second collegiate round. A slow start for Swinehart included bogeys at the second, sixth and eighth holes before a birdie at No. 9 brought her back to 2-over as she made the turn. Two more birdies on her next four holes pulled her back to even par for the day, but a bogey at the 15th dropped her back to 1-over, where the Lancaster, Ohio, native would finish the day.

Sophomore Meredith Swanson also posted a 73 (+1) to go along with her even-par 72 from Sunday, moving her into a tie for 12th place at 1-over-par 145 for the week. Swanson made par on her first seven holes, but saw a streak of 22 straight holes without a bogey come to an end at the eighth. However, a birdie at the ninth put her at even par at the turn, and another birdie at No. 12 got her into red figures for the day and for the tournament. The native of Roanoke, Va., would make bogeys at 14 and 16, though, to finish at 1-over for the day.

Freshman Suzie Lee posted her second straight round of 73 (+1), although this one was far more uneventful than her six-birdie, five-bogey, one-double bogey outing on Sunday. Six straight pars to open her round gave way to a bogey at No. 7 followed by a birdie at the ninth to make the turn at even par. She would then par eight straight holes before carding a bogey at the 18th to finish 1-over. Sophomore Amanda Strang made a seven-shot improvement from her first round with a 74 (+2), and freshman Katie Rose Higgins – playing as an individual – made par on her first 10 holes before finishing with a 76 (+4), one shot better than her opening round.

North Carolina posted their second straight round of 285 (-3) to get to 6-under for the tournament, with the Gamecocks nine shots back but still within striking distance at 579 (+3). Ole Miss posted the best round of the day, a 4-under-par 284, to move into a tie for third place with Oklahoma at 584 (+8). Individually, the Tar Heels’ Courtney Gunter is tied with Furman’s Laura Wearn at 4-under-par 140, with UNC’s Jackie Chang a stroke back and Mia Piccio (Florida) and Shena Yang (South Florida) two shots back at 2-under.

The Gamecocks will be paired with North Carolina, Mississippi and Oklahoma for the final round, which gets underway at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday with a shotgun start. Those three teams will start on holes 1-3, and live scoring will be available via golfstat.com.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESULTS
T8. Katie Burnett – 75-69=144 (E)
T8. Samantha Swinehart – 71-73=144 (E)
T12. Meredith Swanson – 72-73=145 (+1)
T14. Suzie Lee – 73-73=146 (+2)
*T58. Katie Rose Higgins – 77-76=153 (+9)
T68. Amanda Strang – 81-74=155 (+11) *Competing as an individual, score does not count toward team total