Sept. 22, 2011

Tournament Notes

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina men’s golf team is set to begin play in its second tournament of the season on Friday when it tees off in the first round of the Mason Rudolph Championship.

The 54-hole tournament, which is hosted by Vanderbilt, runs through Sunday at the Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course in Franklin, Tenn. The South Course sets up as a par-71, 7,100-yard track for this event.

South Carolina head coach Bill McDonald will be looking for a better performance out of his squad this weekend after a tie for 11th finish with a three-day score of 890 (+26) at the Carpet Capital Collegiate to open the season.

“It obviously wasn’t the finish that we wanted,” McDonald said. “But I saw a lot of really good things. We came back and had some good practice and had another competitive qualifying event to get ready for the Mason Rudolph Championship.”

The Gamecocks’ lineup for the weekend has one change from the first weekend of play. Freshman Sean Kelly will be playing in his first career tournament, joining senior Wesley Bryan, junior Dykes Harbin and sophomores Caulder Moore and Blaine Woodruff, who will be competing for the second-straight tournament.

Harbin is coming off the best 54-hole performance of his career after posting rounds of 73-73-72=218 (+2) to lead South Carolina with a tie for 21st finish at the Carpet Capital Collegiate. McDonald expects the Augusta, Ga., native to continue his solid play this weekend.

“The light has come on for him a little bit in terms of his ability to handle adversity,” McDonald said of Harbin. “His game seems to have really sharpened up over the summer. I was really impressed with him.”

The Gamecocks have had plenty of success in the Mason Rudolph Championship, finishing no worse than third in their four previous appearances. South Carolina won the tournament in 2008 and has finished second in each of the last two seasons. Last season, the Gamecocks shot rounds of 285-279-280=844 (-8) to finish behind champion Memphis (-10). Woodruff recorded the best showing of his young career at last year’s tournament with a second-place result with rounds of 69-67-70=206 (-7).

The Tigers return to defend their title in 2011, while Vanderbilt, Belmont, College of Charleston, Davidson, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Middle Tennessee State, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Samford and Western Carolina round out the field.

South Carolina is paired with Vanderbilt and Oklahoma for the first round and will tee off at 8:45 a.m. CT on Friday on hole No. 1. Live scoring will be available at golfstatresults.com.