Sept. 18, 2014

Tournament Notes | Live Scoring

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina men’s golf team will tee off in its third tournament of the fall season on Friday at the DICK’S Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup.

The unique event, which features stroke play and match play, runs through Sunday at the par-71, 7,184-yard layout at The Golf Club of Tennessee in Kingston Springs, Tenn.

The Gamecocks, who were ranked as high as No. 5 in preseason polls, are coming off a huge win at the Carpet Capital Collegiate as they claimed the program’s first tournament title at the event after firing a final-round 276 (-12) to win by a stroke, defeating one of the toughest fields on collegiate golf, including defending national champion Alabama, Georgia Tech and rival Clemson.

“It was an incredible win for our program,” South Carolina head coach Bill McDonald said. “It was a very special win for me, being in my home town and a golf course that I pretty much grew up playing on. The guys came out in the last round just really focused and played some incredible golf. We were a little bit tired early in the week. We were still recovering from our trip to Pebble Beach. I just could not be more proud of the effort they gave us.”

Carolina will look to keep the momentum going this weekend at the DICK’S Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup, which is in its second year and is hosted by the Nashville Sports Council. The field is made up of six teams from the SEC and six from the ACC. A team and individual champion will be crowned following 36 holes of stroke play on Friday and 18 on Saturday. On Sunday the teams will play in the Conference Challenge. Each team from the SEC will face a team from the ACC in match play, and the conference that accumulates the most points wins.

The Gamecocks are sticking with the same lineup for the ninth straight tournament dating back to last year. Junior Will Starke, who led the way with a tie for fourth finish at the Carpet Capital Collegiate, will occupy the No. 1 spot, followed by senior Will Murphy, junior Matt NeSmith, sophomore Ben Dietrich and senior Caleb Sturgeon. All five golfers have a stroke average below 73 heading into the weekend.

“They are all unique in a lot of ways,” McDonald said of this lineup. “It’s just been a great group. They work hard and have a lot of fun playing the game. The biggest thing I’ve noticed so far this fall is that each one of them in their own little way has gotten a little bit better over the some, which you hope for. That’s pretty scary if we can get all five of those guys playing well at the same time like we saw (at the Carpet Capital Collegiate.”

For the third straight tournament, the Gamecocks will be competing against one of the strongest fields in the country. Of the 12 teams attending, nine were ranked in the top 50 of the final Golfstat Rankings last season, including five in the top 25. Georgia returns to defend its 2013 Collegiate Cup Challenge. The Bulldogs won last year’s stroke play portion with a total of 832 (-20) and helped lead the SEC to the match play title. Missouri, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt join the Gamecocks and Bulldogs to make up the SEC contingent. Georgia Tech headlines the ACC field as the defending conference champion. Rival Clemson, Duke, Louisville, North Carolina State and Virginia will also represent the ACC. South Carolina has a 2-2 head-to-head record against teams in the field this season.

The Gamecocks are slated to tee off in the first round on Friday beginning at 8 a.m. CT and will be paired with Virginia and Texas A&M. The teams will play 36 holes, and live scoring will be available through GOLFSTAT.