Skip to main content
Partner logo
Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link
Gamecocks+

Yoshio Yamamoto

Yoshio Yamamoto

“I’m honored to join the University of South Carolina as the new assistant women’s golf coach. 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.”

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS (2nd season as assistant coach at South Carolina)

  • 4 tournament wins
  • 2025 SEC Champions
  • 2025 NCAA Charlottesville Regional Champions
  • T-10th finish at the 2025 NCAA Championship
  • Six All-America honors garnered by three different players
  • Five All-SEC selections, including three First Team All-SEC honorees
  • Set program record for 18-hole, season scoring average (286.26) in 2024-25
  • Four WGCA All-American Scholars
  • Eight student-athletes on the SEC Honor Roll

Head coach Kalen Anderson announced the hiring of Yoshio Yamamoto as assistant coach on July 30, 2024. Yamamoto enters his second season with the Gamecocks in 2024-25. He replaced  former assistant coach Michael Roters, who was named head women’s golf coach at Tulsa after three successful seasons in Garnet and Black from 2021-24.

“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.”

In his first season in Columbia, Yamamoto was a vital part of a postseason breakthrough for the Gamecocks in 2024-25 as the team won the SEC Championship for the second time in program history at Pelican Golf Club in April and the NCAA Charlottesville Regional two weeks later. The win in Charlottesville marked the program’s fifth-straight trip to the NCAA Championship where the Gamecocks finished T-10th with No. 12 LSU, just missing the top-eight cut for match play after 72 holes at Omni La Costa. The Gamecocks finished the season No. 5 in the final Clippd poll, marking the sixth-straight season the team finished ranked inside the top-10 nationally. The team made history at the SEC Championship becoming the first No. 1 seed to bring home the title since the league switched to its new match play format in 2018. The Gamecocks blitzed the field in stroke play with a program and tournament record 54-hole score of 824 (-16) at Pelican. Carolina kept the momentum from the SEC Championship going at Birdwood Golf Course, as it was the only team to win by double-digit strokes at the six NCAA Regional sites across the country. In total, the Gamecocks notched four wins, nine top-five finishes and set a new program record for the lowest team scoring average in program history at 286.26.

Star freshman and mid-year enrollee Eila Galitsky shined at the NCAA Championship, finishing T-5th with the lowest 72-hole score in program history at 282 (71-68-75-68). It marked just the second individual top-five finish at the NCAA Championship in program history. The Chaing Mai, Thailand native was named a WGCA First Team All-American, First Team All-SEC and won SEC Co-Freshman of the Year. Galitsky put together the best freshman campaign in school history with four top-five finishes and a scoring average of 70.95 (second lowest single-season scoring average all-time at South Carolina). She won the Moon Golf Invitational in February, defeating WAGR No. 1 Lottie Woad in a playoff in just her second collegiate start. Yamamoto caddied for Galitsky at the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes in August where she became the first player in program history to reach the quarterfinals of the storied event.

Yamamoto was able to coach two of the best players in school history in Hannah Darling and Louise Rydqvist. Both were named All-Americans by the WGCA and Golfweek, becoming the first four-time All-Americans in program history. The duo each earned First Team All-SEC accolades as well and Darling became the first four-time, First Team All-SEC honoree in program history. Darling and Rydqvist each won for the second time in their storied careers in 2024-25, with Darling capturing the individual title at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate and Rydqvist earning co-medalist honors at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in March. The duo finished their careers No. 1 (Darling – 72.09) and No. 3 (Rydqvist – 72.68) in career scoring average all-time at South Carolina. Darling’s 15 top-five finishes are T-2nd all-time and Rydqvist’s 12 top-five finishes are fourth all-time. Sophomore Maylis Lamoure and graduate Sophia Burnett were tabbed Second Team All-SEC selections as all five players in the lineup earned All-SEC honors for the first time in program history. Burnett made a huge leap in her final season in Garnet & Black as she improved he scoring average by nearly three full strokes from the previous season.

Prior to South Carolina, he spent four seasons as assistant coach for the men’s golf program at Coastal Carolina from 2020-24.

In 2023-24, 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.

###