BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. — Nine of the nation’s top 25 women’s golf teams, including the 18th-ranked LSU Lady Tigers will take part in the annual Lady Gamecock Classic which begins Friday at the South Carolina University Club.
Play runs Friday through Sunday at the University Club, just outside Columbia. Action gets underway at 8 a.m. each day for the 54-hole tournament.
Four-time defending champion and third-ranked Duke returns to try and make it five in a row, but the Blue Devils will have their strongest competition to date at USC. Duke is joined by No. 4 Tennessee, No. 8 Texas, No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Wake Forest, No. 18 LSU, No. 21 Purdue and No. 24 Furman.
Leading the individual field is the nation’s seventh-ranked golfer, Meredith Duncan, of LSU who won the individual title in the final event of the fall at Furman and followed it up by winning the individual title at the first event of the spring at Florida. The Shreveport senior, the defending United States Women’s Amateur Champion, is joined in the field by eighth-ranked Maria Clau of Wake Forest and South Carolina junior Kristy McPherson who is presently 14th in the country.
Joining Duncan in the LSU lineup will be senior Lindy Hitdlebaugh, sophomore Isabel Dornellas, freshman Brooke Shelton and sophomore Devon Day. Erin Sarver will play in the individual competition only. Duncan comes in with a stroke average of 73.57, with Hitdlebaugh at 77.43 and Shelton at 77.64.