AUGUSTA -- The University of South Carolina women’s golf team traveled to Augusta National on Saturday along with a group of Gamecock fans to support golfers Hannah Darling and Louise Rydqvist.
Darling and Rydqvist made the final round after both played 1-under par in the first two rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Teammates Mia Lussand and Maylis Lamoure came out with the rest of the South Carolina team to support the two golfers. It was Lamoure’s first time getting to come out to Augusta National.
“I think it's great,” Lussand said. “It's fun and it's motivating to come out and watch all the good players. It's obviously very cool to be at Augusta. We're just grateful that they could give us tickets.”
Both golfers also had their parents in town to support them throughout the week. Darling's parents flew out from Scotland, while Rydqvist’s came from Sweden.
“Well we’re in Gamecock country right now so we had all the Gamecock fans out here,” Darling said. “The whole South Carolina women’s golf team is out here right now, as well. It was a lot of fun having these people here. I have my family here then I also have my overseas family in terms of our team.”
Rydqvist said it was unbelievable to see all the fans who came up to support her, but with so much going on she hasn’t had much time to let it all soak in.
“It’s super special,” she said. “I’m just very, very thankful and happy to be a part of such a beloved team and to be a part of the whole Gamecock family. I’ve had so many Gamecock fans out here today, extremely thankful to be a part of it.”
Rydqvist finished the tournament tied for 24th place at 5 over. While she struggled on the first nine holes, Rydqvist found her stride on the back nine with three birdies on the ninth, 11th and 13th. She finished the last two holes with bogeys to lose two strokes to finish.
“It has meant the world to me to be out here this week,” Rydqvist said. “We’ve had so much fun on and off the golf course. This event is so well ran and I cannot wait and I really hope that I’ll be back next year.”
Darling finished in solo seventh place with par in round three to finish 1 under overall. She started strong with birdies on holes three and five to reach 3 under but two bogeys on holes six and seven took her back to 1 under. Darling was 2 under for most of the back nine before bogeying on the final hole.
“I would love to go back out there and do it all over again,” she said. “Today was a great day. I feel like I played a lot better than my score. Obviously, I just shot level-par, but I played a lot better than that, I feel like. I just had a few putts that just didn't drop. Again, a great round and some great momentum to kind of kick off for the next few weeks.”
The Gamecocks are off to their next challenge on Wednesday when they travel to Florida to start the SEC Tournament.
“Our team at South Carolina, we’re in a really good place right now, so I’m really excited to see what the next few months hold,” Darling said.
