COLUMBIA — When former South Carolina golfer Justine Dreher needed an exemption to get into a professional tournament in Sweden, Gamecocks associate head coach Puggy Blackmon knew exactly who to contact.
Henrik Stenson, now British Open champion.
“The next morning, she was in,” said Blackmon, also USC’s director of golf development and facilities.
Stenson won his first major title Sunday, topping Phil Mickelson in epic one-on-one battle in the final round at Royal Troon in Scotland. But the Swede is no stranger to the golf program at South Carolina, which he visited frequently in the late 1990s while his girlfriend and now wife, Emma Lofgren, was playing for the Gamecocks’ women’s team.