After a tough end to the 2021-2022 season and missing out on qualifying as a team for the national championship, the Gamecock men’s golf team will be full of new faces this upcoming season with five new members and a new assistant coach being added in the fall.
Following the end of the season, three Gamecocks who entered the transfer portal are juniors Nick Mayfield — who transferred to Winthrop University — Liam Shinn and Jason Quinlan.
In the transfer portal, South Carolina picked up fifth-year Zach Byers from Gardner-Webb. In 2022, he was the first Gardner-Webb golfer to qualify for the national championship as an individual. He's a three-time Big South Golfer of the Week and was named First Team All-Big South Conference.
Senior Lansdon Robbins will also be joining the Gamecocks next season after transferring from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Robbins was second on the team with a career-low stroke average and was named Second-team All-CAA in 2021 and 2022.
Along with two transfers, the Gamecocks recruited three true freshmen — Zach Adams, Walker Jennings and Luke Sullivan — for next season.
"I am very excited to announce our 2022 recruiting class," head coach Bill McDonald said. "All three young men are from great families and their golf games are only trending upward.”
Despite losing multiple players to the transfer portal, fifth-year Evans Lewis will return for his final year in garnet and black. Lewis was a key leader on the team this past season and set the bar high for his teammates. He was the only Gamecock to make it to the national championship in 2022 after being the highest placing individual on a non-advancing team at the Norman Regionals in Oklahoma.
With the loss of All-American senior Ryan Hall as the team's leader, McDonald will look to name a new No. 1 spot on his roster.
The Gamecocks will also see a change in coaching after former assistant coach Ben “Bug” Dietrich stepped down. The news was released via the Gamecock Men's Golf Instagram in a post on June 1, 2022.
“As some of you may know, assistant coach @ben_dietrich9 is stepping down from his post to pursue other career endeavors outside of college golf," the post said. "Thank you for all your dedication, sacrifice and hard work the past 10 years. We’re gonna miss ya like heck, Bug. But it’s not goodbye… it’s just see you later.”
The following week, the team named former High Point University men’s golf head coach Brady Gregor as the new assistant coach for the Gamecocks.
"Honestly, there were only a handful of places and coaches I was willing to give up my own program for," Gregor told GamecocksOnline. "Here at South Carolina, it's hard for me to think of a better opportunity than to coach alongside the winningest coach in program history in the strongest conference in college golf."
The future is looking bright for Gamecock men's golf as it will get a fresh start with a new-looking team in the fall.