Sept. 13, 2016

Tournament Information | Round 1 Pairings | Schedule of Events

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s golfers Katelyn Dambaugh and Isidora Nilsson will compete against the top amateurs in the world this week when they take part in the 2016 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. Dambaugh will represent the U.S., while Nilsson will compete for Chile. A record 55 teams will be in action in Riviera Maya, Mexico, for the four-day event, which gets underway Wednesday.

UCLA signee Mariel Galdiano and Stanford signee Andrea Lee round out the remaining players in competition for the United States. The U.S. has won the event a record 13 times, with its last victory coming in 1998. Joining Nilsson on the Chilean team will be Natalia Villavicencio and Mara Jos Hurtado.

The tournament features four rounds of stroke play that will take place at two locations, the Playa Paraiso course and the El Camaleon course. This week marks the 27th edition of the Women’s World Amateur, which takes place every two years.

This week’s winning team will be awarded custody of the Espirito Santo Trophy for the next two years. Each member of the winning team will receive gold medals, and golfers on the runner-up squad will collect silver medals. The player with the lowest individual score will be recognized at Saturday’s closing ceremony.

Dambaugh, who opens play at 8:30 a.m. ET tomorrow on the El Camaleon Course, is one of 13 golfers ranked in the Top 25 of the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking who will be competing at the event. The senior and Goose Creek, S.C., native currently ranks No. 11, and she is one of 12 participants who received WGCA All-America honors in 2016.

“This is such a great honor to play for my country and represent the United States of America,” Dambaugh said. “I’m looking forward to competing against the greatest amateurs in the world.”

The Women’s World Amateur will conclude a busy summer for Dambaugh, who earned runner-up honors at the 2016 North & South Amateur (July 11-15) before advancing to match play at the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Aug. 3-7).

Dambaugh, a three-time All-SEC honoree, enters her final season at South Carolina as the program’s current stroke average leader (72.96). She set the school’s single-season scoring mark (71.62) and tallied six top-five finishes as a junior on the way to First-Team All-America honors from the WGCA and Golfweek, and her 10 top-five showings overall rank second in program history.

Nilsson appeared in seven tournaments as a freshman last season. She sported a stroke average of 77.43, and earned her best career finish at the 2016 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, placing in a tie for 30th. The sophomore, who tees off on Wednesday at 8:25 a.m. ET on the Playa Paraiso course, was one of five Gamecocks to compete at the 2016 NCAA Championship.

Dambaugh, Nilsson and the Gamecocks begin their 2016-17 campaign later this month at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate. The 54-hole event takes place Sept. 25-27 at the Watson Course in Reunion, Fla.