Michael Roters

Michael Roters was named assistant coach for women’s golf at South Carolina on July 26, 2021. He enters his third season with the program in 2023-24.

“Simply put, I’m joining a culture of excellence!” Roters said of his choice to join the Carolina golf program. “Something special has been brewing and will continue to brew in Columbia. The vision of where the program is going is clear and I couldn’t be more excited to work with Kalen, the staff and the student-athletes at South Carolina.”

In just two seasons, Roters has made an immediate impact helping lead the program to perennial top-five status in the national rankings in a pair of the best seasons in school history.

South Carolina advanced to match play for the first time since 2016 at the NCAA Championship, culminating another successful campaign in 2022-23 in Roters’ second season. The Gamecocks fell 3-2 in a down to the wire match against NCAA runner-up Southern Cal in the quarterfinals. Carolina punched its ticket to match play comfortably with a fourth-place finish in stroke play. The team’s 1,153, 72-hole total is a new program record at the NCAA Championship by nine shots. The previous low score at NCAA finals was 1,162 in 2016. Carolina broke the 18-hole program record at the NCAA Championship with the team’s 12-under 276 in the second round. The Gamecocks and top-ranked Stanford were the only teams in the country to have three players finish in the top-25 of stroke play. Although the team did not record a win, Carolina finished in the top-five in all 12 of the team’s events which was a new program record. The Gamecocks, who played the toughest schedule in the country via the Golfweek/Sagrain Rankings, finished the season No. 4 in Golfstat which marked the team’s third-straight top-five final ranking (led SEC each year). Hannah Darling was named a First Team All-American again by the WGCA and Golfweek. She joined Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, Katelyn Dambaugh and Kristy McPherson as the only multiple, First Team All-America selections in school history. Senior Mathilde Claisse and sophomore Louise Rydqvist were each named WGCA Honorable Mention All-Americans. Carolina punched its ticket to a third-straight NCAA Championship with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Athens Regional. The Gamecocks nearly took down host Georgia with a field-best 282 (-6) in the final round that pulled Carolina within two shots of the Bulldogs. The team T-3^rd at the SEC Championship with a 3-2 win over No. 7 Auburn in the quarterfinals of match play. Darling was named First Team All-SEC again and freshman Mia Sandtorv Lussand earned SEC All-Freshman honors.

The Gamecocks reloaded yet again in 2021-22, welcoming four new players to the lineup and winning a program record five times in eight regular season events. Carolina advanced to another NCAA Championship after taking second at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional. Carolina finished 14^th and shot a field-best 288 (E) in the medal round. Freshman Hannah Darling put together one of the finest seasons in program history as she was a consensus First Team All-American (WGCA and Golfweek) after recording eight top-20 finishes in 11 stroke play starts. She was also a finalist for the ANNIKA Award. Fellow freshman Louise Rydqvist was tabbed a Golfweek Honorable Mention All-American. It marked the first time ever in program history the team had multiple freshman All-Americans. Head coach Kalen Anderson was tabbed SEC Coach of the Year for the third time and she was also named WGCA South Region Coach of the Year for the first time in her career. Carolina had a program-record four players earn All-SEC honors: Darling (First Team), Tai Anudit (Second Team), Mathilde Claisse (Second Team) and Rydqvist (Second Team). Darling and Rydqvist were each named to the SEC All-Freshman Team as well. Carolina finished the season ranked No. 4 in the final Golfstat Team Rankings.

Roters joined the Gamecocks after six seasons with the Iowa women’s golf program. During his time in Iowa City, Roters helped guide the Hawkeyes to six of the lowest team scoring averages in program history. Along the way Iowa golfers notched 14 of the 16 lowest 18-hole scores, nine of the 11 lowest 36-hole scores and 13 of the 15 lowest 54-hole scores in team history.

On the individual side the Hawkeyes had one golfer qualify for a NCAA Regional under Roters in addition to one All-Big Ten Tournament Team honoree. Six Hawkeyes earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors during his stint in Iowa, and the women excelled in the classroom as well with 11 Academic All-Americans and 16 Big Ten Academic All-Conference honorees.

“I have great respect for Mike’s recruiting eye and abilities, his work ethic and competitive nature, and the networks that he has built domestically and internationally,” head coach Kalen Anderson said of Roters. “Mike brings a tremendous amount of passion and energy. I look forward to the knowledge and positive impact that he will bring to our student-athletes.”

Prior to his time with the Hawkeyes, Roters served as the assistant coach at the University of Idaho where he helped the team earn five First Team All-Big Sky honorees, one WAC Player of the Year winner before the team jumped to the Big Sky, and one individual NCAA Championship qualifier in addition to multiple academic awards.

Roters became a golf professional in 2007 and joined the Canadian Tour in 2009. He participated in many professional golf events, including the U.S. Open Sectional, Boise Open (Nationwide Event) in 2008, the PGA National Assistants Championship in 2012 and the Times Colonist (Canadian Tour Event) from 2008-2010. He won the Lilac Open in 2012.

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