Look Back: Gamecocks Make it Back-to-Back with 2016 NCAA Regional Win

The South Carolina women’s golf team took the top spot at the 2015 NCAA Regional in Raleigh and had a unique opportunity to win consecutive regionals for the first time in program history as the team entered the 2016 postseason. To this point the program had only won three regionals, all under head coach Kalen Anderson.
 
2015 saw the Gamecocks win their first NCAA Regional since 2012, winning by eight strokes in Raleigh. Heading into the 2016 season Justine Dreher had graduated, but Sarah Schmelzel and Katelyn Dambaugh were still around, and this time future All-American Ainhoa Olarra was ready to make her NCAA Regional debut. Head coach Kalen Anderson readied her team for a trip down to Baton Rouge as the team aimed to bring home another NCAA Regional win.
 
Though the team didn’t focus on the individual accolades, Schmelzel had put together an impressive senior season in Columbia, earning All-America Honorable Mention distinction for her efforts. “We were never a team that got wrapped up in rankings or accolades,” Schmelzel said. “Coach always told us that if you work hard and stick to the process everything else will follow. She always kept us on task and in the present, and I think that’s why we had so much success at regional championships.”
 
The team was primed and ready for a repeat run, partially because of Dambaugh’s stellar season that saw her earn a pair of First Team All-America honors. “Katelyn had a breakthrough spring in 2016 that jump started the remainder of her collegiate career,” Anderson said of the Goose Creek, S.C. native. “Katelyn’s consistent and solid play in spring of 2016 was critical in our post season success. After Dreher graduated in 2015, Katelyn made a huge leap in maturity, consistency, and leadership that became significant to her personal growth and to our program’s development. When Katelyn played well, the team also seemed to gain momentum.”
 
Unlike the 2015 regional, the Gamecocks came out strong in the opening round, finish the round in second place, just four strokes behind the leader. Dambaugh and freshman Marion Veysseyre led the way in the first round, both carding a 2-under 70, tied for third place heading into the second round. A second round where Dambaugh would put on a show and etch her name into the Carolina record book.
 
“I did not know at the time that I would have a strong regional performance,” Dambaugh said reflecting on that weekend. “I was hoping I would, and I was extremely confident with my game during that period. Everything was starting to click, and I was kind of in a groove during that period. All year I had come so close to winning a tournament. I had multiple top 5 or 2nd place finishes so I knew I just needed to stay patient.”
 
Dambaugh caught fire in that second round, notching a 6-under 66 to take a four-stroke lead on the individual leaderboard, while strong rounds from the rest of the team pushed the Gamecocks into first place with an eight-stroke lead heading into the final round. Dambaugh’s gaudy numbers stick out, but all five Gamecocks were in the top 25 on the leaderboard at the end of the second round, with Schmelzel and Olarra both finishing the second round with a 3-under 69, putting them in ties for eighth and 11th place respectively.
 
“I remember that we were trying to separate ourselves from the pack,” Schmelzel says of that second-round surge. “Everyone shows up to play at regionals, so we knew we couldn’t let off the gas. Coach and Puggy were such great leaders in never letting us get ahead of ourselves in the middle of the tournament.” With Carolina in position to win a second straight regional, Dambaugh was also in do something she’d yet to do as a Gamecock, earn medalist honors.
 
When asked about her performance that weekend Dambaugh opened up. “I was confident with where my game was at that time. The only thing I somewhat worried about was how I would handle it mentally. There were a couple instances in that final round where coach had to calm me down a little and get me back in the right frame of mind. I am a perfectionist on the golf course. Anyone who knows me knows that. I have had to work on that a lot, and I still do. So, letting go of the not so good shot I had coming down the stretch there was key. I definitely had nerves, but I think I controlled them pretty well and stuck to our game plan.”
 
As Dambaugh and the Gamecocks aimed to finish the job in the final round, Florida surged. The Gators nipped at Carolina’s heels all day, eventually catching up with the Garnet and Black as the teams approached the final holes of the tournament. With the SEC foes neck and neck, it would take a little senior leadership from Schmelzel to help seal the deal for Carolina. The senior sank a birdie on the 17th hole that’s gone down as one of the most clutch plays in Gamecock history.
 
“Sarah’s birdie on 17 turned out to more critical than even expected in the moment,” Anderson said of the putt. “Sarah came up big for us in the 2015 Regional, and it was no surprise that she was back in 2016 to do it again! We had a tiny cushion on the team lead moving in the final couple of holes, when Sarah’s long birdie putt on 17 went in it gave us some insurance. Unfortunately, Dambaugh made an uncharacteristic error moments later on the 17th hole that led to a double bogey. Schmelzel’s birdie on 17, then became the ‘difference maker’ late in closing holes of the championship.”
 
“Our team was resilient,” Dambaugh said of the Gamecocks. “We had been told all year to trust the process and to take one shot at a time, control was you can control. We could not control anything that Florida was doing. All we could do was do everything we had been doing all year. Staying patient and strong sealed that for us.”
 
Schmelzel, the hero of the moment, didn’t know the gravity of her putt as it happened. “At the time I didn’t know exactly how tightly packed the leaderboard was at the top. I knew my teammates had given their all that day and never gave up, so I owed it to them to do the same. I can remember the extreme sense of relief from making that long putt on 17. Had it not been for the belief Coach and Puggy put in me from day one, I’m not sure I would’ve been so confident in making a putt like that down the stretch. We always gave it our all for each other and I feel very blessed and fortunate to have shared those memories with such amazing women.”
 
As coach Anderson said, that putt proved to be a difference maker as the Gamecocks tied atop the leaderboard with Florida, claiming a second consecutive NCAA Regional win. As for Dambaugh? She took the medalist honors with a 9-under 207 score, still the Gamecock record for a NCAA Regional performance. Schmelzel, just like Dreher the year before her, got to wrap up her time in Columbia with a NCAA Regional win as the 2016 Gamecocks did something no other Carolina team had done to that point, win back-to-back regional wins.