Gamecocks Head To Myrtle Beach For Second Tournament This Week

March 10, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s golf is back on the links for its second tournament this week, as it competes in the General Hackler Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Gamecocks are the defending champions as they won the event last season.

Each golfer will play 36 holes tomorrow in a shotgun start format at 8:30 ET. South Carolina is paired with North Florida and North Carolina State for the first two rounds.

The Gamecocks will be using the same lineup as the Palmetto Intercollegiate earlier this week in Aiken. In addition, junior Ben Dietrich will be competing as an individual.

HISTORY AT PALMETTO INTERCOLLEGIATE

In its first appearance last season, South Carolina took home the team title with a final score of 841 (-23), the second-lowest team score in tournament history. Three-time All-American Matt NeSmith was the co-medalist with Jimmy Stanger of Virginia. The duo each shot 207 (-9) for top individual honors. Their 207s tied for the second-lowest 54-score by an individual in tournament history.

Lamar has the team record for lowest 54-hole total at 838 (-26) in 2007. Rhys Davies of ETSU holds the record for lowest individual 54-hole score at 206 (-10). The first year of the tournament was 2002.

TOURNAMENT FIELD

It’s a loaded field in Myrtle Beach this week as the Gamecocks will be competing against seven top-50 programs and 10 top-100 programs. Four teams in the top-15 are set to compete with Carolina in No. 3 Virginia, No. 9 LSU, No. 14 Kent State and No. 15 Wake Forest. The Tigers are the only other SEC school in the field with the Gamecocks.

South Alabama, ranked No. 77 in the latest Golfstat rankings, is led by first year head coach and former Gamecock assistant/player Alex Hamilton. He served as an assistant coach for head coach Bill McDonald the past three seasons and was a part of one of the greatest three-year runs in Gamecock golf history. As a player, he earned second team All-SEC honors and was a member of four NCAA Regional teams and one NCAA Championship squad.

RECAPPING THE FALL

South Carolina finished in the top-five in three of its four fall events. The team took 10th (875, +11) at the Carpet Capital Collegiate on Sept. 9-11, fifth at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate (839, -13) on Sept. 23-25, second at the Camden Collegiate Invitational (859, +19) on Oct. 22-23 and fifth at the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic (840, -12) on Nov. 4-6.

Sophomore Scott Stevens and junior Keenan Huskey, Carolina’s two returnees from the team’s magical NCAA run last spring, paced the Gamecocks throughout the fall season. Stevens finished the fall with a 69.58 stroke average, three tiop-10 individual finishes, eight rounds at par or better and six rounds in the 60s. His best individual finish was at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate, when he earned runner-up medalist honors after shooting 198 (-15). The low tally was the third-best 54-hole score in program history.

Huskey finished just behind Stevens with a 69.67 stroke average. He finished in the top-20 individually in all four of the team’s events this fall, highlighted by a runner-up medalist finish at the Camden Collegiate Classic. The Greenville, S.C., native, shot in the 60s five times this fall and played eight rounds at par or better. Huskey shot 64 twice this fall, in the second round at the Maui Jim and the second round at Camden. The two 64s tied for the fourth lowest 18-hole scores in program history.

South Carolina finished the fall slate as the only school in the country with two golfers in the top-10 for scoring average. Stevens tied for 6th with his 69.58 stroke average and Huskey tied for ninth with his 69.67 stroke average.

RECAPPING THE 2015-16 SEASON

South Carolina advanced to its fourth straight NCAA Championship after a second place finish at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional behind SEC foe Georgia. At the NCAA Championship, the Gamecocks sat in 14th place heading into the final round of stroke play.

The team finished seventh after shooting a final round 277 (-3) to advance to the match play portion of the event for the first time in school history. The seventh-place finish was the team’s highest ever in stroke play at the NCAA Championship. In match play, the Gamecocks fell to eventual national runner-up Illinois, 4-1. Then-freshman Scott Stevens earned the lone point for the Gamecocks.

Three of the five players from Carolina’s NCAA Championship squad, Sean Kelly, Matt NeSmith and Will Starke, have graduated and moved on to the Canadian PGA Tour. Huskey and Stevens return for the Gamecocks this season. The team’s final Golfstat ranking was 10th, marking the second-straight top-10 finish for the program.

MCDONALD’S 18

Gamecock head coach Bill McDonald is the winningest coach by tournament victories in school history with 18. McDonald broke the previous record of nine held by Puggy Blackmon (1995-2007) with Carolina’s win at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in September 2014. McDonald captured a school-record five wins in 2014-15 and snagged his latest victory at the 2016 Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate.

UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS

Carolina will be in action for the third straight week as it heads to the Valspar Collegiate Invitational March 19-21 in Palm City, Fla. The Gamecocks placed fifth in their toughest tournament of the regular season last year. All 15 teams in the tournament were ranked in the top-50 by Golfstat and 30 of the nation’s top-100 players via Golfstat competed in the event. Matt NeSmith (T-5th) and Scott Stevens (T-10th) paced Carolina with top-10 finishes.