No. 3 Gamecocks Open NCAA Championship Play Friday

CARLSBAD, Calif. – No.3 South Carolina is set to open play at the 2024 Division I NCAA Women’s Golf Championship on Friday afternoon on the west coast. The Gamecocks will be late early with tee times the opening two days at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.

Carolina will be paired with top-ranked Stanford and No. 2 Wake Forest the first 36 holes of stroke play. The Gamecocks’ first player will be off at 3 p.m. (ET) on Friday at hole 10 and 6:40 a.m. (ET) on Saturday from hole one.

Teams will play 54 holes of stroke play with a cut to the top-15 after the third round on Sunday. Medal round Monday will take place to determine an individual NCAA Champion and teams that make the cut will make one final push to advance to the top-eight. Match play will determine the team NCAA Champion again with the quarterfinals and semifinals taking place next Tuesday followed by the National Championship match on Wednesday.

Golfstat will provide live scoring each day, per usual. Golf Channel will have live coverage of the tournament Monday thru Wednesday from 6-10 p.m. (ET) with double encores airing each of the final three days of the tournament. The full tournament schedule and TV schedule can be found below.

The Gamecocks are making the program’s 21^st all-time appearance in the NCAA Championship this week (fourth-straight dating back to 2021). It marks the 12^th appearance in the last 14 seasons under head coach Kalen Anderson, who was named one of 24 to the watch list for the Jackie Steinmann WGCA National Coach of the Year yesterday. It has been another banner year for her squad with four win this season, which ties for the second most single-season wins in program history. The team has finished in the top-five of all 11 tournaments this season playing one of the toughest schedules in the country again. Anderson was named SEC Coach of the Year for the third time in the last four seasons back on May 1.

The team is seeking to make match play again for the second consecutive season, which would be a first in program history. Carolina finished fourth in stroke play last season and also advanced to match play in 2016.

We’ve arrived in SoCal for our business trip. 💼🤙#Gamecocks🐔⛳️ // #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/3BKnZdtmfa

— Gamecock Women’s Golf (@GamecockWGolf) May 15, 2024

Junior All-Americans Louise Rydqvist and Hannah Darling will be making their third career NCAA Championship starts this week. Rydqvist is playing the best golf of her career and is fresh off back-to-back, runner-up medalist finishes at the SEC Championship (April 12-14) and NCAA Regionals (May 6-8). She has eight top-20 finishes in nine stroke play starts this season, including five top-fives and her first career win at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate back in September. Her scoring average of 70.85 is currently the second lowest single-season score average in program history behind only All-American Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.

Darling finished T-18^th at last year’s NCAA Championship to lead the team. She has six top-20s this season with four top-10 finishes. The Midlothian, Scotland, native has been consistently in form throughout her time as a Gamecock with an impressive 22 top-20 finishes (17 top-10s) in 30 career stroke play starts. Her career scoring average of 72.14 is the lowest in program history.

Both players were named First Team All-SEC and were selected to compete for Team International in this summer’s Arnold Palmer Cup, the premier, Ryder Cup style team event in amateur golf.

Sophomore Mia Sandtorv Lussand will be making her second NCAA Championship start this week. She put together three solid rounds last season at the event, which was held at Grayhawk in Scottsdale, Ariz., to help lead the Gamecocks to match play, including a second round 69 (-3). A Second Team All-SEC selection, Sandtorv Lussand has had a career-best five top-20 finishes with three top-10s this season.

A pair of talented French freshmen in Vairana Heck and Maylis Lamoure will make their NCAA Championship debuts this week. Heck was Second Team All-SEC and on the SEC All-Freshman Team. She had five top-20 finishes, posting a scoring average of 72.81 which ranked third on the team behind only Rydqvist and Darling. Lamoure has been solid in the five spot with a pair of top-20 finishes and a scoring average of 72.23. She helped push the team thru at the NCAA Auburn Regional with a final round 72 (E) that featured a crucial late birdie coming down the stretch at the par-5 16^th hole.

Senior Sophia Burnett, a transfer from Furman, will serve as the team’s substitute and she’ll likely get a chance at some point to play. She was subbed in the final two days of the NCAA Auburn Regional, shooting 3-over with important counting scores each day. Burnett, a Hilton Head Island, S.C., native, was in the lineup for all three of the team’s wins this spring. The Gamecocks started the spring with two wins on the west coast at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge (Feb. 3-5) and San Diego State Classic (Feb. 12-13).

2024 NCAA Championship Field

1. No. 1 Stanford
2. No. 2 Wake Forest
3. No. 3 South Carolina
4. No. 4 LSU
5. No. 5 UCLA
6. No. 6 Auburn
7. No. 7 Southern Cal
8. No. 8 Texas
9. No. 9 Duke
10. No. 10 Arkansas
11. No. 11 Northwestern
12. No. 12 Oregon
13. No. 13 Texas A&M
14. No. 14 Ole Miss
15. No. 15 Arizona State
16. No. 16 Clemson
17. No. 19 Florida State
18. No. 20 Vanderbilt
19. No. 21 Pepperdine
20. No. 22 Virginia
21. No. 23 Mississippi State
22. No. 25 SMU
23. No. 26 San Jose State
24. No. 27 North Carolina
25. No. 30 Michigan State
26. No. 31 Purdue
27. No. 34 Baylor
28. No. 39 Oklahoma State
29. No. 43 Oregon State
30. No. 44 Tulsa

2024 NCAA Championship Gamecock Lineup

1. Louise Rydqvist
2. Hannah Darling
3. Vairana Heck
4. Mia Sandtorv Lussand
5. Maylis Lamoure
6. Sophia Burnett

2024 NCAA Championship Schedule

May 17-22 — 2024 Finals Schedule of Events

(all-times listed ET)

Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, California; University of Texas at Austin, host

 Thursday, May 16

9:40 a.m. Practice round begins

Friday, May 17

9:40 a.m. First-round of stroke play competition

Saturday, May 18

9:40 a.m. Second-round of stroke play competition

Sunday, May 19

9:40 a.m. Third-round of stroke play competition

(Top 15 teams and 9 individuals not on an advancing team are determined)

Monday, May 20

1:30 p.m. Tee times begin for final round of stroke play competition

Following play Individual awards ceremony (runner-up followed by medalist)

Quarterfinal match play pairings determined

Tuesday, May 21

9:50 a.m. Quarterfinal – Match #1 and #2 begin (1st and 10th tees)

10:40 a.m. Quarterfinal – Match #3 and #4 begin (1st and 10th tees)

4:15 p.m. Semifinal – Match #5 begins (winners of match #1 and #2)

5:05 p.m. Semifinal – Match #6 begins (winners of match #3 and #4)

Following play Semifinalist awards ceremony outside media interview room

Championship match play pairings determined.

Wednesday, May 22

5:05 p.m. Championship match begins (winner Match #5 vs. winner of Match #6)

Following Play Awards ceremony

2024 NCAA Championship TV Schedule

Live broadcast via Golf Channel (all times listed ET)

Monday, May 20

• Golf Today – 4-6 p.m.
• Live coverage – 6-10 p.m.
• Encore coverage – 11:30 p.m. – 3:30 a.m. (May 20-21)
• Encore coverage – 12–4 p.m. (May 21)

Tuesday, May 21

• Golf Today – 4-6 p.m.
• Live coverage – 6-10 p.m.
• Encore coverage – 11 p.m. – 3.a.m. (May 21-22)
• Encore coverage – 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. (May 22)

Wednesday, May 22

• Golf Today – 4-6 p.m.
• Live coverage – 6-10 p.m.
• Encore coverage – 11 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. (May 22-23)
• Encore coverage – 2:30–6 a.m. (May 23)

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