South Carolina headed into the 2024 NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship, its fourth straight appearance in the national finals, with plenty of momentum after a strong season.
The Gamecocks had just finished, tied for fourth, in the 12-team Auburn Regional, which served as the first stage of the national postseason tournament. South Carolina possessed two players who received All-SEC First Team and the Women's Golf Coaches Association All-America honors.
Head coach Kalen Anderson was also named the conference's Coach of the Year, marking the third time in four years she claimed the award.
But the Gamecocks' fourth straight appearance in the national finals did not go according to plan. South Carolina, which entered the competition ranked No. 3 in the country, finished 23rd out of 30 teams with a score of 904, which was 40 strokes over par. The Gamecocks were eight places and 15 strokes behind No. 19 Florida State — which, by finishing in 15th place, made the cut to move on to the medal round and compete for the national title.
“We didn’t end the postseason the way we needed to or wanted to. I think we have a little chip on our shoulder knowing that,” Anderson said. “This group is very excited to get back and competing.”
As the team transitions into the second half of its current season, its goal remains the same: make deep postseason runs and compete for national championships.
The makeup of South Carolina’s 2024-25 roster is very similar to that of last year’s squad. All seven golfers who competed in 2023-24 returned to the program, with freshman Tiffany Tsai being the only addition.
Among those returning players are seniors Hannah Darling and Louise Rydqvist, who are among the top collegiate golfers in the country.
Darling has been named to both the All-SEC First Team and to WGCA All-America teams each year of her three-year career with South Carolina. She made the WGCA All-America First Team in 2022 and 2023, while she was an Honorable Mention this past year.
Rydqvist entered the season coming off her best season as an individual player. She led South Carolina with a 71.14 scoring average — the third-highest single-season mark in program history — in addition to being a WGCA First-Team All-American and the SEC’s Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Both players have also competed in prestigious amateur tournaments, such as the Augusta National Women's Amateur and the Arnold Palmer Cup. Darling and Rydqvist have also represented their home countries of Scotland and Sweden, respectively, on the international stage. Rydqvist most recently experienced success on this stage when she won the European Ladies' Amateur Championship this past June.
Darling and Rydqvist's ability to regularly compete at a high level has been an asset for everyone on the team, Anderson said.
"The whole team, in general, has that same mentality, certainly," Anderson said. "But when you have two great players that play at that consistency and that are vocal and leading by example, the rest of the team is going to follow."
Junior Mia Sandtorv Lussand, the Burnett sisters — graduate student Sophia and redshirt sophomore Camila — and sophomores Vairana Heck and Maylis Lamoure make up the rest of the roster.
But during the offseason, one addition was made to the team’s coaching staff, as Yoshio Yamamoto was hired to be Anderson’s assistant coach. Yamamoto served as the assistant coach at Coastal Carolina for three seasons before joining the Gamecocks.
Anderson said his knowledge of the game and how to see it from a players' perspective made him a "fantastic fit" at South Carolina.
"If you look at his resume, he is great at coaching high-level players. You look at his playing experience, he won 18 times playing professional golf. It is very impressive, so he knows how to win," Anderson said . "He's been in their shoes playing competitive golf, and I think that is important in his relatability to the players."
The Gamecocks kicked off the campaign on Sept. 9-11 with a strong performance in the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, a tournament the team won last season. South Carolina went on to defend its title, shooting under par across all three rounds en route to a 27-stroke win. Darling and Rydqvist finished first and second, respectively, in the individual competition, with Darling winning her second-ever collegiate tournament with a 14-under-par 202.
The team went on to finish as runners-up in its next two tournaments: the Mason Rudolph Championship on Sept. 20-22 and the Windy City Collegiate, which lasted from Sept. 31 to Oct. 1. South Carolina concluded its fall season on Oct. 21-23 at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup, where it placed tied for fourth in stroke play and fell to Wake Forest in a third-place consolation match play.
The Gamecocks — which are currently the No. 3 team in the nation, according to Scoreboard — have four regular season tournaments on the docket in spring 2025. The team will compete in the Therese Hession Regional Challenge from Feb. 2-4, Moon Golf Invitational from Feb. 16-18, Darius Rucker Intercollegiate from March 3-5 and Old Barnwell Derby Match Play from March 17-18.
The SEC Championship is set to take place at Pelican Golf Club in Belair, Florida, from April 14-18, and should South Carolina earn another berth to the NCAA Tournament, regional play will last from May 5-7 and the national finals from May 16-21.
Anderson said reaching the later stages of the postseason, in addition to winning the conference tournament, is how South Carolina will gauge its success over the course of the campaign.
"We need to be competing at the national championship. We need to be in the match play, and we want to win the national championship is our ultimate goal," Anderson said. "Certainly, we can't control everything. But, at the very least, we need to be in the match play portion of the national championship. We're going to be a very strong and competitive team."
In Anderson's 18 seasons as the Gamecocks' head coach, she has reached the NCAA Tournament 13 times and won five regional titles. She said continuously making postseason appearances in this manner has helped the program develop longevity beyond individual groups of players.
"I think the sign of great teams are those that perform with consistency over a long period of time. And certainly, our program's done this — this team especially. Again, this is the fourth straight year with these seniors, and, certainly, we've been a top-five team in the country, I think, the last six years in a row here," Anderson said. "I think it's a special program that, recruiting class after recruiting class, has done a great job of making sure that we uphold (this)."
What's next?
South Carolina's next upcoming tournament, the Therese Hession Regional Challenge, will take place from Feb. 2-4. The three-round tournament will be hosted at the Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes, California.