Veysseyre helps host South Carolina grab lead after opening round of Darius Rucker Invitational

   In eight short years, the Darius Rucker Invitational, held at the Long Cove Club on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island, has become one of the really big events on the women’s college golf calendar.

   The formula is simple: You get 17 of the very best teams in Division I, which, of course, includes some of  the very best players in Division I, add in a rock star who loves the game of golf and play it on Long Cove’s Pete Dye Course by the famed designer of the same name at one of the most scenic settings for golf on the East Coast. Hey, it’s not the Monterey Peninsula, but that lighthouse is pretty cool.

   Host South Carolina, behind one of its veterans, Marion Veysseyre, a senior from France, was the only team to better par in Friday’s opening round with a 2-under 282 over the 6,266-yard, par-71 Pete Dye Course layout that gave the Gamecocks, No. 10 in the latest Golfstat rankings, a two-shot lead over Florida State.

   Veysseyre carded a 2-under 69 and is one of four players tied for second in the individual standings, a shot behind Florida State phenom Frida Kinhult, a freshman from Sweden and No. 8 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   South Carolina was the runnerup to Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference’s match-play final last spring and the Gamecocks have a deep and talented roster.

   No. 19 Florida State leads a trio of Atlantic Coast Conference powers right behind South Carolina in the team chase. The Seminoles, behind Kinhult’s sparkling 3-undere 68, matched par with a 284 and are in second place, two shots behind the Gamecocks.

   No. 13 Wake Forest was a shot behind the Seminoles in third place with a 1-over 285. Lurking four shots behind the Demon Deacons in fourth at 5-over 289 is No. 3 Duke, the two-time reigning ACC champion.

   One of South Carolina’s SEC rivals, No. 56 LSU, is a shot behind the Blue Demons in fifth at 6-over 290. No. 23 Furman and another ACC entry, No. 14 Virginia, are tied for seventh, a shot behind the Tigers at 7-over 291.

   It was another slow start for former Radnor High standout Brynn Walker and No. 33 North Carolina as the Tar Heels struggled to a 21-over 305 and are in 16^th place.

   North Carolina also opened with a 305 in the opener to its spring campaign at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate last month on its way to an 11^th-place finish. Duke and South Carolina were also at the Allstate Sugar Bowl and finished second and tied for fourth, respectively.

   Backing up Veysseyre for South Carolina was Emily Price, a freshman from England, whose 1-under 70 left her among four players tied for sixth in the individual standings.

   Anita Uwadia, a junior from the United Kingdom, joined a large group tied for 10^th with her even-par 71. Watched Uwadia, who is a native of Nigeria, play a few holes in qualifying for match play in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club. She possessed a powerful, athletic swing.

   Lois Kaye Go, a junior from the Philippines, joined the group tied for 20^th with a 1-over 72. Kaye Go had the Gamecocks’ best finish in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, ending up in a tie for third.

   Rounding out the South Carolina lineup was Ana Pelaez, a junior from Spain who joined the group tied for 44^th at 4-over 75.

   Kinhult hasn’t been out of the top 10 in her brief collegiate career and finished in a tie for eighth in a similarly loaded field in the Northrop Grumann Regional Challenge in unusually lousy weather in Southern California last month.

   She has some heavyweights chasing her in the individual standings as one of the three players joining South Carolina’s Veysseyre in a tie for second at 1-under 69 is Wake Forest’s Jennifer Kupcho, a senior from Westminster, Colo. and the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR.

   Kupcho, the reigning NCAA individual champion, doesn’t have to be here. She finished second in the LPGA Q-Series last fall and earned an LPGA Tour card. But Kupcho apparently has some unfinished business at Wake Forest and took the option the LPGA gave her to defer accepting her tour card until this summer.

   Also in that group at 2-under 69 is Arkansas’ Kaylee Benton, a senior from Buckeye, Ariz. Benton took eventual champion Kristen Gillman to the 19^th hole in a thrilling semifinal match in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Golf Club of Tennessee.

   Rounding out the foursome tied for second is Kinhult’s teammate, classmate and fellow Swede, Beatrice Wallin. Yeah, Florida State has two stud freshmen from Sweden.

   Joining South Carolina’s Price in the group tied for sixth at 1-under 70 is Kupcho’s teammate, Emilia Migliacco, a sophomore from Cary, N.C. and No. 20 in the Women’s WAGR. Migliacco, the ACC’s Rookie of the Year as a freshman, spent one week of the midseason break winning the 64^th Harder Hall Women’s Invitational, an historic and prestigious stop on the unofficial Orange Blossom Tour, in a playoff.

   Rounding out the foursome tied for sixth were Alabama’s Angelica Moresco, a sophomore from Italy, and LSU’s Monica Dibildox, a junior from Mexico.

   North Carolina was led by Ava Bergner, a sophomore from Germany who carded a 2-over 73 to end up in the group tied for 28^th.

   Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor who plays out of St. Davids Golf Club, and Nicole Lu, a freshman from Taiwan, both ended up in the group tied for 67^th at 6-over 77. The Tar Heels’ senior leader, Kelly Whaley of Farmington, Conn., carded a 78 and is in the group tied for 73^rd.

   Mariana Ocano, a junior from St. Petersburg, Fla., posted an 84 and is in the group tied for 87^th. Ocano was the Tar Heels’ best player in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, finishing tied for 15^th.

   Jennifer Zhou, a freshman from China, competed as an individual and outperformed all of her North Carolina teammates with an even-par 71 that left her in the group tied for 10^th in the individual standings.

   The 54-hole tournament will continue with single rounds scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.