South Carolina takes over the lead at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

February 28, 2023 | by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com

South Carolina Athletics photo

Mathilde Claisse's 69 helps the Gamecocks open a four-shot lead at the Long Cove Club

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.

Great reaction from @GamecockWGolf's Justine Fournand.

Her smile says it all. 😃

📺: Golf Channel and @peacock pic.twitter.com/4LgUykDse1
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) February 28, 2023

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.

Results: Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Mathilde Claisse	, France	800	69-69-70=208
2	Edit Hertzman	, Sweden	500	69-73-67=209
3	Rosie Belsham	, England	400	69-72-71=212
T4	Huai-Chien (Cindy) Hsu	, Chinese Taipei	400	74-72-67=213
T4	Jenny Bae	Suwanee, GA	400	72-70-71=213

View full results for Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

About the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

South Carolina takes over the lead at 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.