May 19, 2016

EUGENE, Ore. – No. 18 South Carolina is ready to compete in the 2016 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship, set for May 20-25 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore. The Gamecocks and 23 other schools will open the tournament with three rounds of stroke play before the field is cut to 15 teams. A fourth round of stroke play will narrow the field to eight schools that will qualify for the match play portion of the event. The quarterfinals and semifinals of match play will take place on Tuesday, May 24, before the NCAA Champion is determined following the finals of match play on Wednesday, May 25.

This week will mark South Carolina’s 16th NCAA Championship appearance and its first postseason event as a team at Eugene Country Club. The Gamecocks, who placed 17th at the event last season, are one of just five schools to qualify for the tournament in each of the last seven years. Head coach Kalen Anderson led South Carolina to its best finish (5th) at the NCAA Championship in 2012, and the Gamecocks also grabbed a top-10 showing at the tournament in 1995. Senior Sarah Schmelzel and junior Katelyn Dambaugh have both made multiple appearances at the event. Dambaugh posted the second-lowest total among Gamecocks at the 2015 NCAA Championship to finish in a tie for 32nd.

For the second-straight year, Golf Channel will provide extensive coverage of the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship. The organization is set to broadcast four rounds of the six-day event, starting with the final round of stroke play on Sunday, May 23. The quarterfinals and semifinals of match play will also air on Golf Channel before coverage wraps up with the finals on Wednesday, May 25. Expanded online coverage will also be available on Golf Channel Digital, and live scoring of the tournament is available on Golfstat.com. For more information, visit the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship Tournament Central.

COACH Kalen Anderson ON THE EVENT

BREAKING DOWN THE FIELD

Each of the top five teams in the latest Golfstat rankings qualified for the NCAA Championship, including top-ranked Alabama. The SEC will be well represented in Oregon, as the league makes up one quarter of the 24-team field. Other notable participants this week include 2015 NCAA Champion Stanford and fourth-ranked Florida, which has won five of its last six tournaments. Texas marks the only school in the field that the Gamecocks have not faced this season.

VICTORY ON THE BAYOU

For the second-straight season and the fourth time in the last seven years, the Gamecocks finished atop the leaderboard at an NCAA Regional. South Carolina earned a share of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional title with Florida after finishing with a three-round total of 857 (-7). Katelyn Dambaugh led the charge, matching the program’s lowest 54-hole total (207) on the way to her first career medalist honors. Her second-round 66 (-6) propelled the Gamecocks to their lowest round ever (277, -11) in program history, and the junior led all golfers with 16 birdies at University Club. The win was South Carolina’s first victory of the season and the eighth time the Gamecocks finished first at an event under Kalen Anderson. Senior Sarah Schmelzel and freshman Marion Veysseyre also notched top-20 finishes for the Gamecocks, who have posted a top-three showing in each of the last three years at an NCAA Regional.

MODEL OF CONSISTENCY

Katelyn Dambaugh has notched top-10 finishes in eight of South Carolina’s 10 events this season, including all six tournaments this spring. The Goose Creek, S.C., native has placed in the top-three in each of her last four competitions, and her six top-five finishes are the most by a junior in a season in program history. Dambaugh’s 71.60 stroke average, the lowest single-season mark in South Carolina history, ranks second in Division I.

RECORD BOOK WATCH

Senior Sarah Schmelzel and junior Katelyn Dambaugh both enter the NCAA Championship with two of the top scoring averages in program history. Dambaugh sports the lowest average with a career mark of 73.01, while Schmelzel is fourth (74.32) in the statistical category. Both of their 2015-16 stroke averages rank in the top-five in school history for single-season scoring, and the two have combined for 22 career top-10 finishes.

DAMBAUGH NAMED TO PING WGCA PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST

South Carolina’s Katelyn Dambaugh was one of four golfers named to the 2015-16 PING WGCA Player of the Year Watch List, which was released on May 13. Dambaugh ranks in the top-10 in Division I in three categories – stroke average (2nd), par-5 scoring (5th) and greens in regulation percentage (9th). She also boasts the 12th-best par-4 scoring average, and she is 19th in total birdies. Dambaugh has carded 16 rounds of par or better this season, including all six of South Carolina’s rounds during the postseason. The winner of the annual award will be announced during the NCAA Championship.

BUILT FOR THE POSTSEASON

Three South Carolina underclassmen have fared well in their postseason debuts this season. Sophomore Ainhoa Olarra carded a career-best 69 (-3) in her first ever postseason round for the Gamecocks at the SEC Championship on the way to an eighth-place finish at the league tournament. Olarra also posted a second-round 69 (-3) at the Baton Rouge Regional, while freshmen Marion Veysseyre and Isidora Nilsson recorded the best 54-hole totals of their careers in their NCAA postseason debuts. Veysseyre tallied two rounds of par or better, including a career-low 70 (-2) in round one, to finish with a 219 (+3) and earn her first career top-20 finish. Nilsson placed just outside of the top-25 in Baton Rouge after totaling a 223 (+7).

SOUTHEASTERN STANDOUT

For the third-straight season, Katelyn Dambaugh received All-SEC honors, as she was tabbed a First-Team All-SEC selection earlier this month. Dambaugh was the runner-up at the 2016 SEC Championship, and she currently boasts the top scoring average among all conference golfers. She became the eighth Gamecock to be named to the league’s First Team, and she is just the fourth player in program history to garner three all-conference laurels. Dambaugh was named the SEC Women’s Golfer of the Week earlier this spring (March 16) following her ninth-place finish (216, E) at the Wildcat Invitational. Junior Marianna Monaco was also honored by the league recently, as she was placed on the SEC Community Service Team.

GOING OUT ON TOP

Playing in her final collegiate regular-season tournament, senior Sarah Schmelzel broke through, tallying her first career medalist honors at the Bryan National Collegiate. Schmelzel battled windy conditions all weekend and played her final nine holes at 1-under (34) to secure the individual title. The Phoenix, Ariz., native became the first Gamecock to finish atop the individual leaderboard since Nanna Madsen won the 2014 Mercedes-Benz Collegiate, and she is the sixth medalist under head coach Kalen Anderson.

GOING FOR THE GREEN IN TWO

Katelyn Dambaugh has taken advantage of her distance off the tee throughout her junior campaign, boasting the fifth-best par-5 scoring average (4.69) among Division I golfers. She has carded a team-high three eagles on the season, including one on the par-5 11th at Greystone Golf & Country Club which jumpstarted her final-round 66 (-6) at the SEC Championship earlier this spring.

FALL WRAP-UP

The Gamecocks, who competed in four events during the fall, saw a strong finish to their year when they fired a season-low 283 (-5) in the final round of the Landfall Tradition. South Carolina’s ninth-place finish at the event marked the second top-10 showing of the fall for the Gamecocks, who placed ninth at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate (Sept. 27-29). Junior Katelyn Dambaugh paced South Carolina with two top-three finishes and a 71.92 stroke average this fall, while Sarah Schmelzel finished in the top 20 in two events. The senior’s 6-under (70-69-71=210) at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate marked the lowest 54-hole total in her collegiate career.