April 6, 2016

Video By Gamecock Productions

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Last month, the South Carolina women’s golf team, in partnership with Darius Rucker and Long Cove Club, hosted the fifth annual Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in Hilton Head Island. The three-day event, which was sponsored by Kroger and Reynolds, featured a 17-team field and once again took place at Long Cove Club, Golfweek’s 19^th-best residential golf course of 2016.

In just five years of existence, the tournament has become one of the top college golf tournaments in the country. This spring was no different, as seven teams ranked in the top 25 competed at the 2016 Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, including each of the top five women’s golf programs. Eleven of the 17 teams in the field qualified for the 2015 NCAA Championships, and eight schools entered the event with a tournament victory under their belt this season.

Approximately 1,500 spectators and over 100 Long Cove volunteers were on hand to watch No. 3 Alabama win the 54-hole tournament with a score of 868 (+16). Crimson Tide freshman Cheyenne Knight earned medalist honors after totaling a 213 (E), while South Carolina junior Katelyn Dambaugh finished in a tie for seventh with a three-round score of 217 (+4). The host Gamecocks moved up the leaderboard on the final day to end the weekend in a tie for eighth (887, +35).

The Darius Rucker Intercollegiate features the unique combination of golf and music, and the idea to pair the two came from South Carolina women’s golf associate head coach Puggy Blackmon. Blackmon approached country music star and South Carolina alumnus Darius Rucker five years ago about the idea, and the musician immediately showed interest in creating the annual golf tournament.

“The thing I like about the tournament is that the ladies not only get to compete at a great golf course, but they also get to see a concert,” Rucker said. “It’s been a lot of fun and Hilton Head makes it a great event. The course is amazing, and the people that run it make it so fun.”

The Gamecocks and the country’s top women’s collegiate golf programs will return to Hilton Head Island next year, as South Carolina, Rucker and Long Cove agreed to a two-year extension for the tournament earlier this spring.

“I’m thrilled about another two years of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate,” South Carolina women’s golf coach Kalen Anderson said. “It’s an honor to work in conjunction with Darius and Long Cove Club in putting on one of the premier college golf events in the country.”

South Carolina, which earned its second runner-up honors of the spring this past weekend at the Bryan National Collegiate, opens postseason play later this month (April 15-17) at the 2016 SEC Tournament. The 54-hole event is set to take place at the Greystone Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.