Anderson Hires Yoshio Yamamoto as New Assistant Coach

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s golf head coach Kalen Anderson announced the hiring of Yoshio Yamamoto as assistant coach on Wednesday. Yamamoto joins the Gamecocks after spending the past three seasons at Coastal Carolina.

“I am extremely excited to welcome Yoshio and his wife, Makenzie, to our Gamecock golf family,” said Anderson. “With 18 professional wins under his belt as a competitive golfer, Yosh has high-level knowledge and experience as a player that will make a strong impact on our student-athletes and program. He excels at building relationships with his student-athletes and recruits, while his calm and positive demeanor will be a major benefit to our players on and off the golf course.”

“I’m honored to join the University of South Carolina as the new assistant women’s golf coach,” said Yamamoto. “I look forward to working alongside coach (Kalen) Anderson and the talented student-athletes on the current roster. Together, we aim to build on the team’s strong tradition of excellence, foster a supportive and competitive environment and help each of our players reach their full potential both on and off the course.”

This past season, Yamamoto helped lead the Chanticleers to a second-place finish at the General Hackler Championship and a fifth-place finish at the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship. The Chants won the J.T. Poston Invitational and sophomore Trey Crenshaw broke the 18-hole program scoring record with an 18-under 198 en route to winning the Golfweek Fall Challenge.

Seth Taylor earned First Team All-Sun Belt honors the last two seasons. As a senior, he had three top-10 finishes with a 72.50 scoring average. As a junior, he had five top-10 finishes and a runner-up finish at the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Championship. His 71.70 scoring average in 2022-23 was the fourth-best single-season scoring average in program history.

Yamamoto helped guide Coastal to a pair of wins during the spring of the 2020-21 season. It marked the first time the Chanticleers won twice in the same season since 2009-10. The team also had three different golfers earn medalist honors that season, a first for the program since 2013-14. Three players earned All-Sun Belt recognition led by Zack Taylor on the First Team.

Prior to coaching, Yamamoto turned professional in 2008. As a pro, he recorded 18 wins, including 11 wins on the Swingthought.com Tour, four wins on the Coastal Players Tour, two wins on the Minor League Golf Tour and one win on the Mexico Golf Tour. He also made five starts on the Web.com Tour, making four out of five cuts, and recorded a 12th-place finish at the El Bosque Mexico Championship.

A member of PGA Tour Latinoamérica from 2014-16, Yamamoto made one start on the PGA TOUR at the 2015 OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Yamamoto played collegiately at Austin Peay from 2003-07 where he was a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection and posted a 73.28 career scoring average. He totaled one individual win, nine top-five individual finishes and 21 top-10 finishes over his career and helped lead the Governors to eight team wins.

Born in San Diego, Calif., Yamamoto grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico before returning to the United States in 2003. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Austin Peay in 2007.

Yamamoto replaces assistant coach Michael Roters, who was recently named the new head women’s golf coach at Tulsa after three successful seasons in Garnet and Black.

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