SPURS & FEATHERS: Experience Coupled with Developed Youth Makes Gamecocks Formidable

May 2, 2016

Dates	Event	Finish
9/11-13	Carpet Capital Collegiate Rocky Face, Ga.	3rd of 15
9/28-29	Shoal Creek Invitational Birmingham, Ala.	6th of 12
10/18-20	Tavistock Collegiate Invitational Orlando, Fla.	9th of 15
10/24-25	Camden Collegiate Invitational Camden, S.C.	1st of 11
11/6-8	Ka’anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii	5th of 19
2/19-21	All-American Intercollegiate Humble, Texas	3rd of 16
3/7-8	Palmetto Intercollegiate Aiken, S.C.	1st of 18
3/12-13	General Hackler Championship Myrtle Beach, S.C.	1st of 15
3/21-22	Valspar Collegiate Invitational Palm City, Fla.	T-5th of 15
4/3-5	Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate Awendaw, S.C.	1st of 15
4/15-17	SEC Championship St. Simons Island, Ga.	10th of 14
5/16-18	NCAA Regionals TBA
5/27-6/1	NCAA Championship Eugene, Ore.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sometimes not playing up to the level you desire can be a good thing.

South Carolina senior golfer Sean Kelly tied for 10th individually at the SEC Championships in St. Simons Island, Georgia, but as a team the Gamecocks uncharacteristically finished 10th.

“I think in some ways maybe the SEC was maybe a little bit of a wakeup call for us,” South Carolina head coach Bill McDonald said. “We’ve got to bring a little bit more intensity and a little bit more preparation to it.”

That intensity and preparation is what has guided South Carolina to another strong year as in the 2015-16 season the Gamecocks have won a program second-best four tournament titles so far this year, and McDonald knows with the NCAA regionals looming that he has a squad that can make some noise in the postseason.

Listed at No. 17 in the latest Golfstat national rankings, South Carolina will learn of its regional destination during the tournament field unveiling at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 5, live on The Golf Channel.

McDonald is not only bullish about the prospects in the upcoming postseason, but also going forward with the program.

“I think when you take everything into account how we played this spring and how we’ve developed some of our younger guys, Keenan Huskey and Scott Stevens, I think you’ve got to be really excited not only about the prospects of how we look going into the postseason, but also for how the team looks going forward for the next couple of years,” McDonald said. “I’m very pleased as a coach. I’ve got three incredible seniors in Sean Kelly, Will Starke and Matt NeSmith. They’re like sons to me. I’m going to miss them, and I want them to go out on a really good note.”

The three seniors of Kelly and All-Americans NeSmith and Starke make South Carolina as good as anybody in the country 1-3, but McDonald knows the growth of the sophomore Huskey and freshman Stevens make them formidable all the way 1-5.

“I think these guys with the combination of experience and the youth and firepower that we have, I’m very pleased with the group we’re taking to regionals,” McDonald said.