HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – No. 4 South Carolina handled business on day one of the 2023 Darius Rucker Intercollegiate and sits atop the leaderboard tied with No. 6 LSU. The Gamecocks and Tigers each shot 283 (-1) and were the only teams under par the opening 18 holes of the greatest show in college golf.
Senior Mathilde Claisse paced Carolina with a 2-under 69. She made a team-high four birdies and had just two bogeys on her scorecard in a steady round one. Freshman Mia Sandtorv Lussand also fired a red number with an impressive 1-under 70 in her Darius debut. Sandtorv Lussand had just one bogey all day. She knocked her tee shot inside 2-feet at the difficult par-3 17th hole and made just one of three birdies there all day.
Sophomore All-Americans Louise Rydqvist (71, E) and Hannah Darling (73, +2) were the final counting scores. Rydqvist is T-9th as she was bogey free on the front nine today and had a stretch of three birdies in four holes on the back nine from 11 to 14. She caught a tough break with a double on 18 but remains in the hunt. Darling is just outside the top-20, sitting T-23rd. She made a bomb from 40-feet for birdie at the par-4 16th hole.
Senior Justine Fournand shot 81 (+10). Graduate transfer Katherine Muzi, who is playing as an individual this week, got off to a nice start today with an even par 71 that featured a pair of birdies.
In the team race, No. 15 Auburn sits just two shots behind South Carolina and LSU. No. 2 Wake Forest and No. 9 Baylor are 7-over with No. 12 Arizona State right behind them at 8-over. It’s a bunched leaderboard with a lot of fire power thanks to some of the nation’s top teams.
Auburn’s Megan Schofill is the solo leader after an impressive 4-under 67 today. The No. 2 ranked amateur in the world, Ingrid Lindblad of LSU, sits right behind herat 3-under. Just eight players in the 88-women field broke par today. South Carolina and LSU were the only teams in the field to have multiple counting scores post a red number.
Round two starts at 9:20 a.m. (ET) on Tuesday. The Gamecocks will be paired with LSU and No. 3 Oregon again. Fournand will lead things off on hole 10 at 10:10 a.m. Live coverage on the Golf Channel starts again at 2:30 p.m. with College Golf Central airing before at 2 p.m.
2023 Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Gamecock Leaderboard
T3. Mathilde Claisse – 69 (-2)
T6. Mia Sandtorv Lussand – 70 (-1)
T9. Louise Rydqvist – 71 (E)
T9. *Katherine Muzi – 71 (E)
T23. Hannah Darling – 73…
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