No. 4 Gamecocks Begin Play at SECs Wednesday – University of South Carolina Athletics

HOOVER, Ala. – No. 3 South Carolina begins its postseason journey on Wednesday morning at the 2023 SEC Women’s Golf Championship. It marks the 10^th year Greystone Golf and Country Club in the Birmingham metro area will host the league’s conference championship.

Fifty-four holes of stroke are on tap Wednesday through Friday to crown an individual SEC Champion and cut the field to the top eight for match play to determine the team champion. It marks the fifth time the league has used the match play format.

All-American Hannah Darling has the top spot in the lineup this week. She’s joined by senior standout Mathilde Claisse, an All-SEC performer last year, sophomore All-American Louise Rydqvist, freshman Mia Sandtorv Lussand and senior Justine Fournand. Graduate transfer Katherine Muzi will serve as the team’s substitute and can be subbed in prior to the start of any round or match.

The Gamecocks will be paired with No. 3 LSU and No. 5 Mississippi State for the opening round on Wednesday morning. Fournand will be the first player off at 9 a.m. (ET) from hole one.

Live scoring is available for the tournament via Golfstat.

Last season, Carolina finished third in the stroke play portion with a 54-hole total of 867 (+3). Rydqvist finished T-6^th at even par. Darling T-9^th at 1-over. Claisse and Fournand each finished T-15^th at 3-over. The Gamecocks fell to No. 9 Alabama 3-2 in a tight quarterfinal matchup last season in a bout that was decided by a match that went four extra holes between Fournand and the Crimson Tide’s Emilie Overas.

In head coach Kalen Anderson’s 15 previous seasons at South Carolina, the Gamecocks have finished in the top-five 10 times at SECs. Carolina has had a pair of individual medalist at SECs under Anderson in All-American Katelyn Dambaugh in 2017 and All-American Pauline Roussin-Bouchard in 2021 when she shot a tournament record and program record 199 (17-under).

South Carolina has advanced to match play every season since moving to the new format earning the top seed in 2018 and the No. 2 seed in 2019 and 2021. The Gamecocks made back-to-back championship match appearances in 2018 and 2019, falling 3-2 both times.

2023 SEC Championship Gamecock Lineup

1. Hannah Darling
2. Mathilde Claisse
3. Louise Rydqvist
4. Mia Sandtorv Lussand
5. Justine Fournand

SUB. Katherine Muzi

2023 SEC Championship Field

1. No. 3 LSU
2. No. 4 South Carolina
3. No. 5 Mississippi State
4. No. 10 Auburn
5. No. 13 Texas A&M
6. No. 14 Ole Miss
7. No. 19 Vanderbilt
8. No. 20…