April 17, 2015

First Round Results

HOOVER, Ala. – The No. 2 Gamecocks battled chilly, rainy conditions throughout the first round of the 2015 SEC Championships on Friday and finished the day in a tie for fourth place with an 11-over 299. South Carolina is six strokes behind three teams tied for the lead at 5-over at the Greystone Golf and Country Club. Senior Justine Dreher led the Gamecocks with a 2-under 70 and is tied for second place.

Three Gamecocks recorded a birdie on their final hole of the day to pull the team up to a tie for fourth. Texas A&M, Tennessee and Vanderbilt share the top of the leaderboard at 5-over (293). South Carolina, Florida and LSU are all within striking distance at 11-over.

After a going birdie-bogey on No. 2 and No. 3, Dreher finished the final 15 holes at 2-under. The Gamecock is three shots behind leader Jenny Hahn from Texas A&M and is tied with three others at 2-under.

With a steady start, Katelyn Dambaugh made the turn at even-par. She seemed to continue the momentum into the back nine with a birdie on No. 10, but the sophomore posted three bogeys before recording a birdie on No. 18 to finish with a 1-over 73 (T11).

Sophomore Sarah Schmelzel birdied her final hole to wrap up the day with a 5-over 77 (T36). Junior Mary Fran Hillow carded a 7-over 79, but finished her final five holes at 1-under to end on a high note. Sophomore Jia Xin Yang’s 8-over 80 was dropped.

QUOTABLE

South Carolina Head Coach Kalen Anderson
We really hung in there today. It was a really rainy, wet day; the conditions were very difficult. Justine (Dreher) had a phenomenal day. She plays so well in tough weather and I was really proud of her. Katelyn Dambaugh was very strong at 1-over, too. It was an extremely good round in this stuff. It’s hard to battle the weather conditions and the course conditions all day. The greens were good today, but the fairways were very, very wet with the on and off rain that at times was very heavy. Sarah (Schmelzel), Katelyn and Mary Fran (Hillow) all finished with birdies, so that was good to see. It jumped us up in the standings a little bit. I know we are a few strokes back, but it’s within reachable distance if we have a good couple of days and we are fortunate enough to get 36 more holes of play.

UP NEXT South Carolina continues play at the Greystone Golf & Country Club tomorrow morning. All teams are set to begin play at 11 a.m. ET with another shotgun start. The Gamecocks are paired with Florida and LSU. Follow live scoring here.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESULTS

T2. Justine Dreher (No. 2) 70 (-2)
T11. Katelyn Dambaugh (No. 1) 73 (+1)
T36. Sarah Schmelzel (No. 3) 77 (+5)
T46. Mary Fran Hillow (No. 5) 79 (+7)
T55. Jia Xin Yang (No. 4) 80 (+8)

TEAM STANDINGS T1. Texas A&M 293 (+5)
T1. Tennessee 293 (+5)
T1. Vanderbilt 293 (+5)
T4. South Carolina 299 (+11)
T4. Florida 299 (+11)
T4. LSU 299 (+11)
T7. Alabama 300 (+12)
T7. Arkansas 300 (+12)
9. Georgia 306 (+18)
T10. Auburn 307 (+19)
T10 Kentucky 207 (+19)
T10. Missouri 307 (+19)
13. Mississippi State 308 (+20)
14. Mississippi 310 (+22)