Women's Golf . May 9, 2023

No. 4 Gamecocks Go Low, Move Into Second at Athens Regional

South Carolina Athletics

Louise Rydqvist moved into solo second, pacing the team again with a 3-under 69 in round two today at UGA Golf Course

ATHENS, Ga. – No. 4 South Carolina moved into second place at the NCAA Athens Regional on Tuesday. The Gamecocks matched host Georgia with the low round of the day, a 6-under 282. Carolina got red number scores from three of its four counters.

Sophomore All-American Lousie Rydqvist moved into solo second with a 3-under 69. She sits just three shots back of leader Jenny Bae of Georgia. The duo will be paired in the final grouping together tomorrow at UGA Golf Course.

Today, Rydqvist opened with three consecutive birdies and another birdie at the par-4 fifth hole. She didn’t make a bogey until the par-5 12^th after just missing a makeable putt to save par.

“Really solid day for us,” head coach Kalen Anderson said. “Again, we got off to a great start, like I said yesterday on holes 1-4. I was very pleased with that. We capitalized. Again, we left some out there on the par 5s. We have to do a better job. Georgia is playing awesome on their home course. I have to give them credit. They are playing great golf, and we are going to

keep chasing them down. I’m really proud of the way our team is responding. Everybody is contributing and doing their job. We finished a lot better today than we did yesterday. We are learning a little bit every day and hopefully we’ll have an even better day tomorrow.”

Fellow sophomore All-American Hannah Darling shot 72 (E) and she sitsT-6^th at 1-under for the tournament. After making no birdies on the front, Darling rallied with a pair of red numbers coming in. Both her and Rydqvist had top-10 finishes last season at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional as Carolina finished second as a team to host school Florida State.

“I’m feeling really great,” Rydqvist said. “My game is in a really good place, and I rolled in a few putts in the start to get off really hot. It was really nice, and I just kept grinding. We have a great vibe on the team right now. We are all in a really good place, and we’re all just playing really good golf, so I am looking forward to tomorrow I’m just going to go out there and stick to my game plan. I have had a lot of good rounds out here so, hoping to do the same tomorrow, and we will see what happens.”

Senior Mathilde Claisse and freshman Mia Sandtorv Lussand both bounced back with under par rounds today. Claisse shot 70 (-2), matching Rydqvist with five birdies. She climbed 18 spots on the leaderboard and sits T-12^th at 1-over through 36 holes. Sandtorv Lussand made back-to-back birdies late on holes 15 and 16 to get to red numbers. She climbed 20 spots on the leaderboard and is T-19^th. Senior Justine Fournand shot 79 (+7) after a nice start to the tournament on Monday.

The Gamecocks have put themselves in solid postion to advance to their third-straight NCAA Championship on Wednesday afternoon. Carolina is 20 shots clear of the fifth-place teams heading into the final round. Another trip to Grayhawk Golf Club would be the 12^th NCAA Championship appearance in 16 seasons under head coach Kalen Anderson.

Georgia remains in the team lead by 10 shots over Carolina. If the Gamecocks can rally with another low round tomorrow it would mark the program’s sixth regional title, all coming under the direction of Anderson.

Carolina will be paired with the Bulldogs and No. 9 San Jose State for the final round. Fournand will be the first player off at 9:09 a.m. (ET) on hole one with live scoring available again via Golfstat.

2023 NCAA Athens Regional Gamecock Leaderboard

2. Louise Rydqvist – 139 (-5)

T6. Hannah Darling – 143 (-1)

T12. Mathilde Claisse – 145 (+1)

T19. Mia Sandtorv Lussand – 147 (+3)

T41. Justine Fournand – 152 (+8)

2023 NCAA Athens Regional Leaderboard

1. No. 30 Georgia – 561 (-15)

2. No. 4 South Carolina – 571 (-5)

3. No. 9 San Jose State – 583 (+7)

4. No. 33 Maryland – 589 (+13)

T5. Augusta – 591 (+15)