Carolina set to open 2018-19 season at The Farm

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina opens the 2018-19 season tomorrow morning at the Carpet Capital Collegiate. Senior Scott Stevens headlines the starting lineup where he has been a mainstay the last three seasons. He’s started all 37 tournaments his first three seasons for the Gamecocks. 

 “We had great qualifying that just wrapped up on Monday for this event,” said head coach Bill McDonald. “I’m excited for our freshmen class. We’ve got all three of those guys going. Everyone looked good in the qualifiers, and it was an extremely competitive environment. It’s always fun to go back to the Dalton area where I’m from. The Farm is a heck of a golf course and it’s always a great field.”

Stevens, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., led the the team with a 71.44 scoring average, 10 rounds in the 60s and 24 rounds of par or better in 36 outings in 2017-18. His scoring average ranked as the seventh best single-season stroke average all-time and the fourth-lowest scoring average by a junior in program history. Stevens (71.89) is No. 3 on the all-time scoring average list behind All-Americans Matt NeSmith (71.62) and Keenan Huskey (71.66) heading into his final season in Garnet and Black. 

Junior Caleb Proveaux is in the No. 2 spot in the lineup. He’ll be making his 14th career start this weekend after a strong summer. Proveaux, a local product from Lexington, S.C., had a solid fall campaign in 2017 playing in all five events with a top-20 finish and his first career top-10. He and Stevens T-26th last year at The Farm after carding 2-over 218s. 

Senior Will Miles will be in the three hole. He was outstanding in the fall a season ago, starting in all five events with four top-25 finishes. He finished fourth at the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic in Hawaii after tallying a career-best 204 (-9) in the fall finale last November. Miles led the team with a 12th place finish at the 2017 Carpet Capital Collegiate thanks to a 3-under 213. 

A pair of talented freshmen will be in the four and five spots in Ryan Hall (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Harrison Corbin (Inman, S.C.). Both were top-50 players in high school with Hall ranked 19th and Corbin ranked 43rd. Freshman Teddy Tetak (Limbach, Slovakia), who was ranked 38th in the country coming out of high school, will be playing as an individual this week for Carolina. 

The Gamecocks qualified all five spots in the lineup and the individual spot for this weekend’s season-opener in Georgia. 

Carolina will be paired with Tennessee and Virginia for Friday’s opening round. Corbin will lead things off at 9:17 a.m. ET on hole 10. Live scoring for the tournament is available via Golfstat. 

HISTORY AT THE FARM
Carolina is making its 28th appearance overall and their 13th straight at the Carpet Capital Collegiate. The Gamecocks’ best finish came in 2014 when the they captured the tournament title with a 54-hole score of 848 (-16). Carolina also finished tied for first in 2007. A pair of Gamecocks have earned medalist honors at The Farm — PGA TOUR alum Kyle Thompson won in 2000 and David Seawell earned medalist honors in 1994.

ABOUT THE COURSE
The Farm Golf Club is a 7,178-yard, par 72 layout designed by Tom Fazio near Dalton and Rocky Face, Ga.. It features four par-fives and a trio of par-threes. The course is situated in the northeast corner of the John’s Mountain Wildlife Management Area. 

TOURNAMENT FIELD
The field is stacked with talented teams from top to bottom this week. The Carpet Capital Collegiate is annually one of the top early-season collegiate tournaments in the nation.
Seven of the 15 teams set to compete this week are ranked in the top-15 of the Preseason Bushnell Golfweek Preseason Coaches Poll — No. 2 Alabama, No. 6 Auburn, No. 7 Georgia Tech (host school), No. 8 Florida, No. 9 LSU, No. 11 Cal and No. 13 Clemson. 

The Yellow Jackets are the defending champions after beating the Crimson Tide in a playoff in 2017. Alejandro Tosti of Florida, the SEC Individual Champion in 2017, took home medalist honors after shooting 205 (-11).