Led by junior Katelyn Dambaugh and senior Sarah Schmelzel, the Gamecocks women’s golf team finished ninth in the Annika Intercollegiate Tournament in Reunion, Florida. The team finished at eight-over after the three-day tournament, but Dambaugh and Schmelzel stood out, with their respective nine-under and six-under scores earning each individual a top 10 finish.
Both Dambaugh and Schmelzel finished each of their three rounds under par, with Dambaugh posting the best score, a 65 in Sunday’s first round. The pair of upperclassmen were not the only bright spot for the Gamecocks, however, as sophomore Ainhoa Olarra hovered around par all week, finishing at over-eight because of a 77 on Monday.
While finishing ninth in a field of 12 teams could be seen as discouraging, South Carolina was competing against some of the strongest teams in the nation from last season, and Sunday’s team score of 286 (two-under) shows promise for upcoming tournaments. Another bright spot was freshman Isidora Nilsson’s 76 on Monday, the team’s third-best score of the round. Junior Jia Xin Yang also added a 77 in each of the first two rounds to contribute to the scoring for the Gamecocks.
As for the tournament overall, Southern California ran away from the competition, finishing at a 36-under 828 for the tournament, 23 strokes ahead of second-place finisher Arizona. Arkansas (10-under), Duke (eight-under) and Texas A&M (five-under) rounded out the top five.
South Carolina can take away plenty of positives from this tournament, which was put on by former LPGA Tour star Annika Sorenstam. Dambaugh put together a strong push for the individual title, finishing in third place, just three shots behind the Trojan’s Karen Chung. Schmelzel’s consistency placed her in a tie for seventh by tournament’s end, and Olarra, Nilsson and Yang’s strong play bodes well for the Gamecocks going forward.
Looking ahead, the Gamecocks will travel to Chapel Hill for the Ruth’s Chris Invitational at the University of North Carolina’s Finley Golf Course from Oct. 10 to Oct. 12. The tournament has a history of hosting some of the nation’s finest, so South Carolina will have another opportunity to see where it stacks up against premiere competition.