South Carolina rolls to Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic title

March 27, 2022 | by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com

Courtesy of South Carolina Athletics

Fifth-ranked Gamecocks pick up their fourth win of the season while Alabama's Polly Mack claims medalist honors

Despite losing four players, including a pair of All-Americans, from a lineup that won four team titles and spent most of last spring ranked No. 1 in the nation, the South Carolina Gamecocks have hardly skipped a beat this season.

Kalen Anderson's team picked up its fourth win of the year on Sunday, taking the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic hosted at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens.

South Carolina, ranked fifth nationally by Golfweek/Sagarin, shot an even-par round of 288 on Sunday to finish at 10-over 874, eight-strokes clear of 18th-ranked Texas A&M. Fourth-ranked Wake Forest finished 14 back at 24-over 888.

The field also included three other top-25 teams in No. 8 USC, No. 11 Texas and No. 20 Ole Miss.

Polly Mack of Alabama

"This group played extremely disciplined golf this weekend in very windy, tough conditions," said head coach Kalen Anderson. "They stayed committed to the process, which paid dividends. I'm proud of this team and where we're headed."

Freshman Louise Rydqvist had five birdies on her Sunday card en route to a final round 69 (-3) and finished tied for fifth with freshman teammate Hannah Darling at 3-over 219. Tai Anudit and Mathilde Claisse tied for 11th at 5-over 221. Junior Justine Fournand was the final counting score for the Gamecocks on Sunday, carding a 2-over 74 to tie for 25th at 11-over.

Alabama's Polly Mack claimed medalist honors at 3-under 213, which gave the fifth-year junior from Berlin, Germany her first collegiate victory. With rounds of 70-74-69, Mack earned a four stroke win over two of the country's top freshmen in Carolina Lopez-Chacarra of Wake Forest and Amari Avery of USC. Mack completed her wire-to-wire victory with back-to-back birdies on the final two holes.

"We are very excited, but not surprised, that Polly (Mack) is the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic individual champion," said Alabama head coach Mic Potter. "Polly has all the tools to become one of the top players in women's golf, so this is only the beginning for her."

South Carolina and Alabama Athletic Communications contributed to this report.

Results: Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Polly Mack	, Germany	700	70-74-69=213
T2	Carolina Lopez-Chacarra	, Spain	500	73-74-70=217
T2	Amari Avery	Riverside, CA	500	73-73-71=217
4	Julia Lopez Ramirez	, Spain	400	70-75-73=218
T5	Louise Rydqvist	, Sweden	400	78-72-69=219