No. 1 South Carolina holds off Ole Miss to claim team crown in Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic

    The last time the Southeastern Conference Championship was contested two springs ago, Mississippi stunned South Carolina in the title match to win its first conference championship at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.

   Last fall, they met again with Ole Miss again pulling out a 3-2 decision to capture the team crown in the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

   So, as South Carolina, newly elevated to the No. 1 spot in the latest Golfstat rankings, grinded out a team victory in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, one of the top gatherings of women’s college golf talent each spring which wrapped up Sunday at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga., the Gamecocks probably weren’t all that surprised to look in the rear-view mirror and see, guess who, Ole Miss, ranked sixth, gaining on them.

   South Carolina, getting a respective 2-3 finish from its top two players, Ana Pelaez, a fifth-year senior from Spain and No. 17 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, a sophomore from France and No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR, validated its No. 1 ranking with a two-shot victory over Ole Miss and the rest of a loaded field, comprised primarily of its SEC foes, in difficult conditions.

   The Gamecocks opened with a solid 5-over-par 293 in Friday’s opening round and then took control of the tournament with a 1-under 287 in Saturday’s second round when cold and wind conspired to send many teams backward. That gave them a five-shot lead over No. 16 Arkansas with Old Miss lurking six shots back.

   With Roussin-Bouchard firing a clutch 2-under 70 over the 6,287-yard, par-72 University of Georgia layout in Sunday’s final round, South Carolina posted a 13-over 301 in the final round for a 17-over 881 total.

   Ole Miss had opened with a 6-over 294 and added a 4-over 292 in Saturday’s second round, the second-best score of the day, before closing with a 9-over 297 to finish two shots behind South Carolina in second place with a 19-over 883 total.

   It was really a two-horse race, but give No. 39 Kentucky credit as the Wildcats outperformed their ranking, closing with the best round of the day in Sunday’s final round, a 4-over 292, to finish seven shots behind Mississippi in third place with a 26-over 890 total. Kentucky had struggled a little in the opening round with a 302 before adding a solid 8-over 296 in Saturday’s tough conditions.

   Arkansas was within five shots of the lead after two rounds as the Razorbacks added a 7-over 295 to their opening round of 2-over 290. But Arkansas struggled in the final round with a 20-over 308 to finish three shots behind Kentucky in fourth place with a 29-over 893 total.

   It was five more shots back to host Georgia, ranked 13^th, as the Bulldogs closed with a 14-over 302 to finish in fifth place with a 34-over 898 total. Georgia had opened with a 7-over 295 and added a 13-over 301 in Saturday’s second round.

   Only one team among the top-12 finishers was not from the SEC. That would be No. 10 Southern California, which is always up for a tough road trip in unfamiliar territory against the best competition it can find. That’s also why you can almost always find the Trojans battling it out in the late stages of an NCAA Championship.

   Southern Cal finished a shot behind Georgia in sixth place with a 34-over 899 total, the Trojans opened with a 4-over 292 and adding a 305 in Saturday’s chilly wind before closing with a 302.

   No. 4 LSU, behind individual champion Ingrid Lindblad, a sophomore from Sweden and No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, finished four shots behind Southern Cal in seventh place with a 903 total. The Bayou Tigers got off to a fast start when they grabbed the lead following the opening round by matching par at 288, fueled largely by a brilliant 8-under 64 from Lindblad. LSU fell back with a 16-over 304 in Saturday’s second round before struggling to a 311 in Sunday’s final round.

   Auburn’s Tigers, ranked 12^th, finished two shots behind the Bayou Tigers in eighth place with a 41-over 905 total. Auburn opened with a 7-over 295 and struggled to a 310 in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with a 12-over 300.

   No. 22 Florida finished two shots behind Auburn in ninth place with a 43-over 907 total as the Gators opened with an 8-over 296 and added a 306 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 305.

   Rounding out the top 10 was No. 26 Vanderbilt, which closed with a solid 11-over 299 to finish a shot behind Florida at 44-over 908 in 10^th place in the 18-team field that included a B team representing Georgia. The Commodores made it bookend 299s as they hit that number in the opening round, but they struggled, as did most teams, in Saturday’s second round with a 310.

   Only 10 shots separated fifth-place finisher Georgia from Vanderbilt in 10^th.

   Pelaez wasn’t in the lineup for the East Lake Cup as she stayed home in Spain for the fall semester due to coronavirus considerations. and finished third against professional players in the Madrid Santander Golf Tour.

   One of the many players who took up the NCAA on its offer of a fifth year of eligibility to make up for the spring of their senior season that was stolen by the coronavirus pandemic, Pelaez matched par in the opening round with a 72 and was one of just two players to break 70 in Saturday’s difficult conditions as she carded a 3-under 69 that left her two shots behind Lindblad in the individual chase heading into the final round.

   Pelaez closed with a 1-over 73 to finish two shots behind Lindblad in second place with a 2-under 214 total. Pelaez and Lindblad were the only two players to finish under par for the weekend.

   Backing up Pelaez for the Gamecocks was Roussin-Bouchard, who came up big with her final-round 70 for the team, which, combined with a pair of 2-over 74s in the first two rounds, left her in a tie for third place with Southern California’s Allisen Corpuz, a graduate student from Honolulu, Hawaii and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR, Mississippi’s Kennedy Swann, a senior from Austin, Texas and No. 86 in the Women’s WAGR, and Missouri’s Jess Yuen, a redshirt sophomore from Bolingbrook, Ill.

   Roussin-Bouchard had won the individual title and Pelaez had finished in a tie for second place in South Carolina’s team victory in the Valspar Augusta Invitational at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. earlier this month that vaulted the Gamecocks to the top of the rankings. They are a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the South Carolina lineup.

   The rest of the South Carolina lineup took turns coming up big for the Gamecocks.

   Lois Kaye Go, a senior from the Philippines who has been a stalwart for South Carolina, opened with a throwout 77 before contributing a clutch 2-under 70 to the Gamecocks’ crucial second-round team showing. Kaye Go closed with an 80, although that, too, was a key counter, and finished in the group tied for 34^th place at 11-over 227.

   All three rounds recorded by Paula Kriner, a freshman from Germany, were counters, the 4-over 76 in Friday’s opening round, the 2-over 74 in Saturday’s second round and the final-round 78 that left her in the group tied for 36^th place at 228.

   Many players who were seniors last spring, like Pelaez, returned for a fifth year at the school they had been at all along. But others, like Thailand’s Pimnipa Panthong, who was a right in the middle of four tremendous years for the Kent State program, chose to take a fifth year at another school.

   Panthong, No. 68 in the Women’s WAGR, struggled in the final two rounds in the Liz Murphey with a pair of 81s, but she was South Carolina’s medalist with a 1-under 71 in the opening round. She finished in the group tied for 53^rd place at 233, but she always contributes and has been a huge get for head coach Kalen Anderson.

   Lindblad basically won the individual title on the strength of her spectacular eight-birdie, no-bogey opening round. Her 64 was the best individual round of the tournament by four shots. Lindblad cooled off with a 3-over 75 in the second round, but a final round of 1-over 73 gave her a 4-under 212 total and a two-shot victory over Pelaez.

   Southern Cal’s Corpuz and Missouri’s Yuen had identical splits in joining South Carolina’s Roussin-Bouchard in the quartet tied for third place at 2-over 218, as they each opened with a 2-under 70 and followed it up with a pair of 2-over 74s. Yuen is finding her form again after missing the better part of two seasons with a wrist injury.

   Swann rounded out the foursome at 2-over as she opened with a 74 and matched the low round of the day in Saturday’s second round with a 3-under 69 before closing with a 75. Swann was the first of three Ole Miss players who finished among the top 10 in the individual standings.

   Swann’s teammate, Julia Johnson, a fifth-year senior from St. Gabriel, La. and No. 63 in the Women’s WAGR, headed a group of three players tied for seventh place at 3-over 219 that also included a couple of freshmen, Auburn’s Anna Foster or Ireland and Kentucky’s Laney Frye of Lexington, Ky. The steady Johnson opened with a 73 and matched par in the second round with a 72 before finishing up with a 74.

   Foster matched par in the opening round with a 72 and struggled to a 77 in Saturday’s second round before matching the best score of the day in Sunday’s final round with a 2-under 70. Frye opened with a 2-under 70 and added a 75 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 74.

   Andrea Lignell, a sophomore from Sweden, gave Ole Miss a third player in the top 10 as she finished in a tie for 10^th place with Louisville’s Hana Ryskova, a sophomore from the Czech Republic, and Alabama’s Benedetta Moresco, a freshman from Italy and No. 15 in the Women’s WAGR, at 4-over 220.

   Lignell added a 75 to her opening-round 73 before matching par in the final round with a 72. Ryskova got off to a fast start with a 1-under 71, struggled to a 76 in Saturday’s second round and finished up with a 73. Moresco also got off to a great start, firing a 4-under 68 in the opening round before struggling to a 78 in Saturday’s second round and closing with a 74.

   The Georgia website, in previewing the Liz Murphey, estimated that 28 players in the field would be back in Georgia beginning March 31, for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The first two rounds will be played at the Champions Resort Golf Club. After the field  is cut, the survivors will get to play a practice round at one of the cathedrals of golf, Augusta National Golf Club, followed by the final round at Augusta April 3.