South Carolina put on a show in the final round of the NCAA Bremerton Regional, with a total of 274 (-14) and moving up two spots to finish in 2nd place. Their final total is 845 (-11), and with this finish, the Gamecocks advance to the NCAA Championship later this month. Two Gamecocks finished in the top 10.
Junior Matthew NeSmith performed well on the back nine to finish the round at -5. He finishes the tournament tied for 7th with a 210 (-6). NeSmith finish 7 strokes behind the winner, Cheng-Tsung Pan from Washington, who posted a total of 203 (-13).
Junior Will Starke was also on his game this round and moved up 7 spots in the rankings. He shot -3 in the last round and had a total of 212 (-4) to finish tied for 10th.
Redshirt senior Sean Kelly, who led the way for the Gamecocks the first two rounds, had a bit of difficulty in round 3. He was +1 on the front nine and hitting two double bogeys in the back set him back a little, but still finished the day at +3. His strong first two days allowed him to finish tied for 20th, though, with a 214 (-2).
Will Murphy also played well on the back nine to give him a round 3 score of -3, but a rough start to the tournament gave Murphy a final total of 217 (+1), tied for 28th.
Caleb Sturgeon finished his round at -3, his first time being under par this tournament. He finishes tied for 33rd with a total of 219 (+3).
South Carolina improved their overall finish from the tournament last year, where they finished in 5th with a total of 880 (+40). All teams that advanced in 2014 were above par, whereas all teams this year finished under par.
The other teams advancing from the Bremerton Regional are UAB with 843 (-21), Southern California with 847 (-17), and TCU and Washington tied for 4th with 854 (-10). Also advancing is Kyle Mueller from Michigan, who finished tied for 2nd with a score of 207 (-9).
The Gamecocks have spent a lot of time this season coming from behind, which is exactly what they did during these three rounds. They won quite a few tournaments this year, and many of those came after being behind. The Gamecocks ended day one of this tournament in 6th place, 4th place after two rounds and spent a good amount of time leading the field during round three, but finished in 2nd. They did, in fact, post the best score for round three, shooting -14. The Gamecocks need to keep up their strong performances all tournament long when they head to the Championship if they want to do well.
South Carolina will travel to the NCAA Championship May 29-June 3 at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. This will be their 19th overall and third consecutive trip.