The Gamecock women’s golf team ended the fall season with the best ranking in school history of No. 1 in the country in the GOLFSTAT rankings.
A month later, the team was dealt a blow when freshman phenomenon Nanna Madsen announced she would forgo the rest of her eligibility to turn pro.
The Denmark native placed in the top 10 in all of the team’s four fall tournaments, and she also ended her college career as the No. 3 player in the nation.
This is a big loss to the South Carolina women's golf team to say the least. However, Madsen isn’t the only big-time player to contribute to the team.
Senior Justine Dreher finished her fall with a second place finish at the Dixie Amateur. The No. 14 player in the country had a strong fall that helped lead the Gamecocks to two wins out of four. The French golfer also won the first tournament of her career.
Junior Mary Fran Hillow also ended her fall season by shooting a tournament record 65 on the final day of the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hillow played well all fall and looks to keep up the strong play heading into the longer spring schedule.
The Gamecocks begin play this weekend at the Florida State Match-Up. Last season, South Carolina scored a win over two top 10 finishers. A win over the 12-team field this year would be a great confidence boost going forward.
The field consists of four of the top 25 teams in terms of scoring average. No. 8 Mississippi State will be a team to keep an eye on. The team contains the No. 8 and No. 9 players in the country according the Golfweek, and finished sixth in last year’s NCAA championship tournament.
The three-day tournament will be hosted by Florida State at Tallahassee’s Southwood Golf Course. Last year, the Gamecocks set the tournament scoring record at 871 and sophomore Katelyn Dambaugh set the second best single round mark with a Sunday 67 (-5).
The Gamecocks have four tournaments before the SEC Championship in April, but the Florida State Match-up is the only one in February.
The next competition for South Carolina will not be until the weekend of March 6 when they host the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.
The team hopes to top last year’s school record finish of 13th in the nation. The team finished 2nd in both the SEC Championship and NCAA East Regional before faltering a bit on the first day of the NCAA tournament, shooting a 301 (+201).
For most tournaments, teams choose five players that will factor into the scoring. Like many teams, head coach Kalen Harris likes to rotate her starters based on factors such as the course, tournament and whether a player is on a hot or cold streak.
Harris has not announced a starting five yet for this weekend, though her lineup may remain somewhat constant based on this weekend’s results.