April 24, 2013

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina men’s golf team climbed into the top 25 in both the Golfstat and Golfweek rankings on Wednesday after finishing runner-up at the SEC Championship over the weekend.

The Gamecocks are ranked No. 20 in the Golfstat NCAA Head-to-Head rankings and No. 23 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.

Carolina had an impressive performance at the SEC Championship, finishing two strokes back of No. 2 Alabama in second place with the lowest 54-hole SEC Championship score in school history (850). The Gamecocks finished ahead of 11 top 50 teams, including eight ranked in the top 25. Individually, sophomore Caleb Sturgeon finished runner-up with a total of 205 (-5), which is the second lowest 54-hole SEC Championship score in school history.

During the regular season, the Gamecocks posted five top-three finishes, including a tournament win at the Wendy’s Kiawah Classic in the fall and a pair of runner-up finishes.

Carolina will now wait for the NCAA Regional pairings to be announced on May 6. The Gamecocks will be selected to compete in one of the following regionals: Baton Rouge, La., Tallahassee, Fla., Columbus, Ohio, Fayetteville, Ark., Pullman, Wash., or Tempe, Ariz.

Golfstat NCAA Head-to-Head Top 25
1. California
2. Alabama
3. UCLA
4. Washington
5. Texas
6. New Mexico
7. Stanford
8. Georgia Tech
9. TCU
10. Duke
11. Florida
12. Southern California
13. Arkansas
14. Florida State
15. Georgia
16. Oklahoma State
17. LSU
18. North Florida
19. Auburn
20. South Carolina
21. SMU
22. Texas A&M
23. Mississippi State
24. Saint Mary’s
25. Houston

Golfweek/Sagarin Top 25
1. California
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. New Mexico
5. UCLA
6. TCU
7. Washington
8. Stanford
9. Georgia Tech
10. Duke
11. Southern California
12. Oklahoma State
13. Florida State
14. Florida
15. Georgia
16. Arkansas
17. LSU
18. North Florida
19. Auburn
20. SMU
21. Texas A&M
22. Kent State
23. South Carolina
24. Saint Mary’s
25. Mississippi State