No. 23 Gamecocks Open Play at SEC Championship Friday

BELLEAIR, Fla. – No. 23 South Carolina begins its title defense on Friday morning at the SEC Championship. For the third consecutive year, Pelican Golf Club will play host to the conference tournament.

Pelican’s 18-hole golf course was designed with inspiration from Donald Ross’ original layout and will play as a par-70 this week. The course is the first location on the west coast of Florida to have Latitude 36 Bermudagrass on all fairways, ensuring gorgeous grounds all season long. It was designed with uninterrupted rough with greens and tees maintained at the highest levels. The venue has played host to The ANNIKA every fall on the LPGA Tour dating back to 2020.

For the eighth consecutive season, the 2026 SEC Champion will be determined via match play. Teams will play 54-holes of stroke play with a cut to the top-eight on Sunday. Quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be Monday with the title bout live on the SEC Network on Tuesday morning.

Clippd will have live scoring over all five days available here.

Under five-time SEC Coach of the Year Kalen Anderson, the Gamecocks have advanced to the match play portion of the SEC Championship all seven seasons of the new format with three finals appearances (2018, 2019 and 2025). The program made history last season after defeating Florida 4.5-0.5 in the title match for the program’s second ever SEC Championship (first since 2002). Carolina earned the No. 1 seed for match play last season setting a new SEC Championship 54-hole team scoring record (824, -16) in stroke play. Since switching to the new match play format, the Gamecocks are the only top seed from stroke play to win the title.

Four of the five players in the lineup this week have experience playing in the SEC Championship at Pelican. Sophomore All-American Eila Galitsky finished T-5^th in stroke play last season at 4-under (210). Junior Maylis Lamoure finished T-26^th at 3-over. Galitksy was 3-0 in match play and Lamoure posted a 2-1 record in her three matches en route to the championship. In 2024, senior Mia Sandtorv Lussand and junior Vairana Heck both finished T-17^th at 3-over (213) in stroke play helping the Gamecocks earn the top seed for match play again.

Freshman Molly McLean joins the quartet of experienced players in the lineup this week as she makes her postseason debut. Redshirt junior Camila Burnett will serve as the team’s substitute and can be subbed in prior to the start of any round during stroke play.

Carolina is the No. 10 seed this week and is one of 14 teams ranked in the top-35 of the latest Clippd Team Rankings. The Gamecocks will be paired with Oklahoma and Kentucky the opening 18 holes on Friday. McLean will be the first player off for Carolina at 9:40 a.m. (ET) on hole one.

2026 SEC Championship Gamecock Lineup  
1. Vairana Heck
2. Eila Galitsky
3. Maylis Lamoure
4. Mia Sandtorv Lussand
5. Molly McLean
6. Camila Burnett*

* – serving as the team’s substitute player

2026 SEC Championship Field
1. No. 3 Florida
2. No. 4 Texas A&M
3. No. 5 Texas
4. No. 6 Arkansas
5. No. 8 Auburn
6. No. 14 Vanderbilt
7. No. 16 Mississippi State
8. No. 18 Tennessee
9. No. 21 Ole Miss
10. No. 23 South Carolina
11. No. 27 Oklahoma
12. No. 31 Kentucky
13. No. 32 LSU
14. No. 35 Missouri
15. No. 55 Georgia
16. No. 56 Alabama

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