Gamecocks Earn No. 2 Seed at East Lake Cup

ATLANTA, Ga.  –  South Carolina’s women’s golf team earned the No. 2 seed in the East Lake Cup with a 3-over 291 on Monday at the East Lake Golf Club. 

The opening round at the East Lake Cup is a stroke play round to determine the seeds for the match play semifinal, with the winners of those semifinal matchups meeting for the championship on the final day. 

Seniors Lois Kaye Go and Pimnipa Panthong both posted 1-under 71 scores to tie for third place, just two strokes off the lead. After a bogey on the third hole, Go locked in and shot for par on the rest of the front nine before sinking three birdies on the back nine, including one on 18 to finish 1-under par for the day. 

“I just stuck to my game plan,” Go said of her performance today. “I didn’t let the bad things that happened on the front nine get to me and I just kept on going. I trusted my shot, I trusted my swing and fortunately it worked out.”

Panthong shot for par on her first six holes before notching her first birdie of the day on seven and finished the front nine 1-under. She remained steady, shooting for par on the first five holes of the back nine before a birdy on 15, then back to back bogeys on 16 and 17, and finally finished with another birdie on 18 to secure the 1-under 71. 

“I played pretty solid,” Panthong said of her round. “I had a couple bad drives towards the end, but overall my putting is pretty good today, my iron shots were pretty good, so overall it’s pretty good.”

“Pretty solid day,” head coach Kalen Anderson said after the stroke play round. “We got out of the gates a little slow and really didn’t do a very good job of taking advantage of the par 5s, but overall played very steady and hung in there. This is a very difficult golf course, and the women did everything really, really well. We just need to do a better job of taking advantage of the par 5s. I think they generally do a very good job adjusting after a day of competition and they kind of know what they need to do. We’re seeded in second for match play and in a good spot and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Sophomore Pauline Roussin-Bouchard finished tied for eighth with a 1-over 73, while fellow sophomore Mathilde Claisse tied for 15th place shooting a 4-over 76.

The Gamecocks are set for a showdown with No. 3 seed Florida on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to the East Lake Cup championship round on Wednesday. 

2020 East Lake Cup Leaderboard
1. Ole Miss – 283 (-5)
2. South Carolina – 291 (+3)
3. Florida – 293 (+5)
4. Texas – 301 (+13)

Gamecock Leaderboard
T3. Lois Kaye Go – 71 (-1)
T3. Pimnipa Panthong – 71 (-1)
T8. Pauline Roussin-Bouchard – 73 (+1)
T15. Mathilde Claisse – 76 (+4)
19. Paula Kirner – 79 (+7)