No. 4 Gamecocks Defeat No. 24 Florida to Win SEC Championship

BELLEAIR, Fla. – It was a historic day at Pelican Golf Club as No. 4 South Carolina defeated No. 24 Florida, 4.5-0.5, to win the SEC Championship. It is the program’s second SEC title and first since 2002. It is the first SEC Championship under four-time SEC Coach of the Year Kalen Anderson.

Senior All-American Louise Rydqvist made a 60-foot birdie putt on hole 17 to clinch the third and decisive team point. The Värnamo, Sweden native was 1-down in her match thru 12 holes but then won the next two holes to go back 1-up where it stayed until her long birdie bomb at 17 to win it for Carolina. Rydqivst went 3-0 in her matches over the last two days in wins over Tennessee, No. 18 Ole Miss and the Gators too.

Sophomore Maylis Lamoure led from hole three on in a 3&2 victory putting the first point on the board for the Gamecocks on the green at hole 16. She was hot with putter all day keeping the momentum from a win in the semifinals yesterday against the Rebels.

Freshman Eila Galitsky put the second point on the board for South Carolina, also making birdie on hole 17 to win 3&1. Galitsky nearly drove the green at the difficult par-4. Like Rydqvist, Galitsky won all three of her matches the last two days improving her match play record to 6-0 this spring.

Senior All-American Hannah Darling was on the 19^th hole of her match when Rydqvist made the birdie putt on 17 today. Darling got 2-down early but battled back to tie her match on the front nine. She also birdied 17 to go 1-up in her match. Her birdie putt sat on the edge of the hole on 18 and Francisco of Florida made birdie to force extra holes.

Rydqvist, Galitsky and Darling all finished in the top-10 individually in the stroke play portion of the championship Monday thru Wednesday.

Graduate Sophia Burnett battled all day in a tight match ultimately falling 3&1. She contributed in a big way with wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals on Thursday to help send the Gamecocks to the title match today at Pelican.

South Carolina made SEC history as well today becoming the first No. 1 seed from stroke play to win the SEC Championship in women’s golf. The league switched to its new match play format in 2018 and this year marked the seventh time match play has determined the SEC Champion.

2025 SEC Championship Championship Match Results

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