NEWBERRY — Newberry College will serve as the host school for the 2017 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf South Super Regional tournament in May 2017 — the first time a predetermined NCAA event has been held in the state since 2002.
The tournament will be a 54-hole event played May 8-10, 2017, at the Member’s Club’s Woodcreek course on the outskirts of Columbia.
The announcement of Newberry’s successful bid to host the 2017 South Super Regional marks the first NCAA postseason event held at a predetermined site in South Carolina since the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state house in July 2015.
“I could not be more excited for the state of South Carolina,” said Matthew Finley, director of athletics for Newberry College. “This is a great opportunity to begin hosting great events statewide and I am pleased that Newberry College is able to step up and host such a prestigious event. I am so appreciative of the staff and community who have stepped up to help make this bid become a reality. We are all excited about providing a great student-athlete experience at this event and know that Newberry and South Carolina will welcome all with a nice dose of southern hospitality.”
This is also the first time Newberry will serve as the host school for a predetermined site for an NCAA championship event. No predetermined NCAA championship events have been held in the state since the 2002 Division I men’s basketball regional in Greenville.
Also of note, one of the last predetermined site NCAA championship events held in South Carolina was the 1999 Division I Women’s Golf regional tournament at The University Club in Blythewood. That tournament was hosted by the University of South Carolina and run by current Newberry head women’s golf coach Clarissa Childs and then-USC head coach Kristi Coggins, who is now a volunteer assistant coach at Newberry College.
“We are honored and privileged for Newberry College to be able to host the 2017 NCAA Division II South Super Regional tournament,” Childs said. “Our staff and team will certainly make it a championship to remember as we welcome NCAA championship golf back to South Carolina.”
The South Super Regional will feature 12 teams and six individuals from Conference Carolinas, the Gulf South Conference, the Peach Belt Conference, the South Atlantic Conference and the Sunshine State Conference. The top three teams advance to the NCAA Division II National Tournament, which will be held on May 17-20, 2017, at the Findlay (Ohio) Country Club.
This tournament will feature some of the toughest competition in all of collegiate athletics over its 54 holes. Since the Division II women’s golf championship was made into its own division entering the 2000 season, 16 of the 17 national champions have come from the South Super Regional, including 2016 national champion Rollins College.
Of the 12 teams who participated in the 2016 South Super Regional, none were ranked lower than 25th in the Golfstat Statistical rankings.
The Member’s Club’s Woodcreek course is a Tom Fazio designed course in the Sandhills area of metropolitan Columbia. The course is one of the home courses for the University of South Carolina’s golf teams.
The course is a beautiful, wooded par-72 course which plays just over 7,000 yards from the tips. An official yardage for the NCAA Division II South Super Regional is yet to be determined.
Winding through hardwoods, wetlands, hills and valleys, Woodcreek is a natural beauty where players will encounter dazzling displays of wildflowers, natural streams and lakes.