South Carolina takes over the lead at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate
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For all of its accomplishments under head coach Kalen Anderson -- 23 tournament wins, 11 NCAA Championship appearances, including five NCAA Regional titles, and five players who have earned first-team All-America honors on 11 occasions -- South Carolina is missing a key component to its impressive dossier.
The Gamecocks have never won the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, a tournament they have hosted since 2012. However, that all may change tomorrow as South Carolina will sleep on a four-shot lead heading into tomorrow's final round at the Long Cove Club in Hilton Head, S.C.
Behind subpar rounds by Mathilda Claisse and Justine Fournand, the fourth-ranked Gamecocks created some breathing room between themselves and No. 6 LSU on Tuesday, carding an even-par 284. At 1-under 567, South Carolina has a four-shot advantage over the Tigers (+3) while Auburn (+9), Texas (+14) and Vanderbilt (+14) round out the top-five.
The two highest-ranked teams in the field -- No. 2 Wake Forest (+15) and No. 3 Oregon (+24) -- have had trouble finding its footing this week at Long Cove.
Claisse birdied her last hole of the day for a 2-under 69. At 4-under 138, the senior sits atop the individual leaderboard at 4-under 138, which is good for a two-stroke lead over Auburn's Megan Schofill. Among the players three back at 1-under is LSU's Ingrid Lindblad, the second-ranked female amateur in the world who is in search of her 11th collegiate victory.
Steady and patience were the words of the day at Long Cove, where only South Carolina and LSU have managed to turn in rounds of even par or better over the first 36 holes.
The Gamecocks also benefitted from a resilient Fournand, who bounced back from an opening round 81 on Monday to card a 1-under, bogey-free 70 in her second round. The senior from Erstein, France made 16 straight pars today before sinking a lengthy downhill birdie putt on the par-3 eighth hole, her second to last hole of the day, for her lone birdie.
South Carolina also counted an even par 71 from sophomore Hannah Darling and a 3-over 74 by Mia Lussard.
The final round of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate will be televised by the GOLF Channel beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. The Gamecocks will be paired with LSU and Auburn in an all-SEC final grouping.
ABOUT THE
Darius Rucker Intercollegiate
54-hole collegiate invitational hosted by the
University of South Carolina women's team. Team
(best
four scores out of five players each day) and
individual
competitions.
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