Oct. 22, 2015

WILMINGTON, N.C. – South Carolina women’s golf concludes its fall slate at the 14th annual Landfall Tradition, in Wilmington, N.C. The event, hosted by UNC Wilmington, takes place Fri., Oct. 23 – Sun., Oct. 25, at the Country Club of Landfall Dye Course. This marks the sixth-consecutive year the Gamecocks have played the 54-hole stroke play tournament, which features 18 teams from 11 states and nine conferences. Wake Forest returns as the defending champion while four other top-20 teams are set to compete.

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
Dates: Fri., Oct. 23 – Sun., Oct. 25
Location: Wilmington, N.C.
Course: Country Club of Landfall – Dye Course
Format: 54-hole stroke play
The Lineup: Katelyn Dambaugh, Sarah Schmelzel, Ainhoa Olarra, Isidora Nilsson, Jia Xin Yang
The Field: Alabama, Central Florida, Clemson, Duke, Elon, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina, UNC Wilmington, Virginia, Wake Forest
Live Scoring: GolfStat

Tournament Notes

FROM THE COACH
“The Landfall Tradition is a great opportunity for us to play a challenging venue. In order to be successful this weekend, we will need to be extremely patient and tough in our mindset. Additionally, we will need our entire lineup to step up this week in this very strong field.”

HISTORY AT THE LANDFALL TRADITION
The Gamecocks have competed at The Landfall Tradition in each of the past five seasons and have claimed three top-five finishes at the event. Last year, Carolina finished in a tie for third with a score of 293-287-291=871 (+7). Nanna Madsen was the runner-up on the individual leaderboard after turning in a score of 66-72-72=210 (-6). Her first-round score of 66 tied the individual low-round record at the event. Juniors Katelyn Dambaugh (+5) and Jia Xin Yang (+6) helped pace the middle of the lineup and look to build off that experience from a year ago.

LAST TIME OUT
Carolina shot 299-310-295=904 (+40), finishing in 11th place out of 18 teams at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational. The wet conditions proved a challenge for all as no team finished under par at the event. Senior Sarah Schmelzel led the Gamecocks, shooting 72-76-75=223 (+7) to tie for 27th individually at the event. Freshman Gaby Amos was in the lineup for the first time and fired a 71 on Day Three, the best round of any Gamecock over the weekend. Junior Katelyn Dambaugh and sophomore Ainhoa Olarra each tied for 39th place individually with scores of 10-over.

BREAKING DOWN THE FIELD
The Gamecocks have faced at least one top-10 team in each tournament this fall, and The Landfall Tradition will be no different with No. 5 Duke, No. 7 Alabama and No. 10 Oklahoma State in the field. South Carolina sits at No. 38 in the latest Golfweek rankings. Eight other teams at the event are currently ranked in the top 40, including Virginia (17), Purdue (18), NC State (26), Ohio State (30), Clemson (31), Notre Dame (32), Michigan State (34) and North Carolina (37). With Clemson in the field, this marks the first Palmetto Series matchup in women’s golf of 2015-16. In each event the two schools compete this season, the team that finishes higher on the leaderboard in more events will be awarded one point.

RECORDS FALLING
Junior Katelyn Dambaugh matched her career-best 65 at the 2015 ANNIKA Invitational, once again tying the program’s low-18 record. Her performance that weekend tied the school’s low-54 hole record of 207. She is currently on pace to break the school’s career scoring average record with a mark of 73.43. Senior Sarah Schmelzel (74.52) also sits in the top five on South Carolina’s career scoring average list. Her 54-hole score of 210 at the 2015 ANNIKA Invitational ranks sixth on the school’s all-time list.