38 collegiate golf teams competing on the Hammock Coast®

38 collegiate golf teams competing on the Hammock Coast®

Thirty-eight college golf teams – 19 men’s and 19 women’s squads – are once again competing on South Carolina’s Hammock Coast® this week, enjoying the best of the destination, on and off the course.

The Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Intercollegiate, a 54-hole tournament, is being contested from April 1-3 in Pawleys Island at True Blue Golf Club and Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, two of America’s top 100 resort courses. Teams from 15 states, including as far west as Colorado, are enjoying the challenge presented by the two Mike Strantz designs.

Caledonia is hosting the women’s event, while the men are playing at True Blue.

In the opening round, the Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) women’s team shot +5, good for a one stroke lead over High Point University. On the men’s side Valparaiso (Ind.) University shot a blistering 12-under to lead second-place University of Missouri-Kansas City by five shots.

(Follow the action live: men’s leaderboard; women’s leaderboard)

Joining Cal Poly and High Point in the women’s tournament are USC Upstate, Austin Peay State, Coastal Carolina, North Dakota State, Ohio, Florida Gulf Coast, UNC Asheville, Florida Atlantic, Illinois-Chicago, Georgetown, University of St. Thomas, Fairleigh Dickinson, Evansville, Tennessee Tech, Winthrop, Akron, and Marshall.

In the men’s field, North Alabama, Richmond, Southern Illinois, Denver, Delaware, Stephen F. Austin, Long Island, Xavier, Austin Peay, Connecticut, James Madison, Central Arkansas, Marshall, Jacksonville State, Northern Kentucky, Ohio and USC Upstate are hoping to rally past Kansas City and Valparaiso.

At the heart of the Golfweek/AGT Intercollegiate’s appeal are Caledonia and True Blue, layouts that help anchor the ever-popular Hammock Coast Golf Trail. Caledonia combines Strantz’s architectural genius with a stunning piece of Lowcountry property to provide one of the nation’s premier golf experiences.

Playing through live oak trees draped in Spanish moss, Caledonia rewards creativity and precision, traits Cal Poly’s Sarah Yoo showed an abundance of in shooting a 3-under par 68 in the opening round.

Conversely, True Blue is an ultra-modern design, featuring expansive fairways framed by waste bunkers and large undulating greens. While True Blue allows players the latitude to swing away with the driver, it’s vital to be in the proper spots in the fairway to setup makeable birdie putts, something Valparaiso’s Caleb VanArragon and UMKC’s Lucas Dutartre did better than anyone in the field en route to firing opening round 66s.

Georgetown County’s casual charm and Southern hospitality earned it the nickname Hammock Coast. Adventure and relaxation blend together in perfect harmony, like the flowing and ebbing of waves on the county’s famed beaches. With six communities – southern Garden City, Murrells Inlet, Litchfield, Pawleys Island, Georgetown and Andrews – comprising the pristine coastal area between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, visitors can experience South Carolina’s Hammock Coast like never before.

For more about the tournament, click here. For more information on Caledonia and True Blue, visit CaledoniaGolfandFishClub.com or TrueBlueGolf.com.