South Carolina Gamecocks golf trio says ANWA experience can boost team

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Eila Galitsky and Louise Rydqvist knew they’d have a partisan section of patrons cheering their every move, so they wanted to give them something to cheer about.  

Three South Carolina Gamecock golfers entered the 2025 Augusta Women’s National Amateur field when first-round play began Wednesday. Two of them – Galitsky and Rydqvist – made the cut.  

Hannah Darling, the third Gamecock golfer, just missed it, which means she was free to join the collection of garnet-and-black clad Gamecock golf team members who made the 73-mile drive from Columbia to Augusta National Saturday to cheer on the pair that remained.  

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class="wp-block-heading">Galitsky shines on Saturday

And Galitsky, in particular, gave her teammates quite the show. Her 6-under 66 card let her finish 8-under for the tournament. She got particularly hot from the 6^th through the 8^th hole where she strung together consecutive birdies before shooting an eagle at 8. It was good enough for a T-4 finish.  

“I’m so happy the team got to watch, got to come and support,” Galitsky said. “Honestly, I think that’s what made me feel so comfortable out here is just having their support, and playing Augusta National is great, but when you play 6-under par, I think it’s a bit better.”  

Speaking of “better,” as good as Galitsky played Saturday, the Gamecock junior felt like she left a few strokes out there.  

“With how I was hitting the ball, I’m going to be honest, I should have been way lower than 6-under,” she said. “I missed so many easy putts out there. Like, the first four holes, I think I had birdie putts inside 10 feet, and I missed all of them. [But] I hit such great shots [Saturday]. I don’t even know what to say. I think I was just so in the zone. It felt awesome out there.”  

Momentum for postseason

Galitsky’s South Carolina teammate Louise Rydqvist didn’t fare quite as well. She was 4-over in Saturday’s Round 3 and finished 2-over for the tournament. It was good enough for a T-27 finish, but also an improvement of two strokes from Rydqvist’s 2024 performance, which is something she was proud of.  

“It’s huge,” she said. “Every round you can play at Augusta National will definitely help you with the difficulty of this course. Surely brought some experience from last year. I kind of knew what to expect.”  

One thing she certainly expected was for her Gamecock program to be represented well. Rydqvist said the showing by herself, Galitsky and Darling, who came just short of making the cut Thursday, bodes well for the trajectory of their team.  

“We have three participants here,” she said. “Three top-20 players in the world. That’s everything a program could ever ask for. I think coming home from this event just spreading the positive vibes and the excitement of being here, I know that every single girl on our team would like to be here and play here.” 

The team can now enjoy Masters Week, but once it’s over, Rydqvist and her team will focus on the SEC Championships beginning Monday April 14 and the NCAA Regionals which take place in May.  

“We have a couple tournaments left in the postseason that we’d like to get some rings at,” said. “We’re getting ready.”