This mid-year enrollee beat the world’s No. 1 amateur in a playoff for her first college victory

If the name Eila Galitsky is familiar, it’s probably from when she burst onto the golfing scene a couple years ago.

The standout Thai junior won low amateur honors at the 2023 Chevron Championship and also won the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific. Ranked 19th in the Amateur World Golf Ranking, she’s one of the game’s best amateurs at just 18 years old.

When Galitsky decided to enroll a semester early at South Carolina, it gave coach Kalen Anderson three top-20 players. Louise Rydqvist and Hannah Darling are standout seniors, but Galitsky is perhaps the Gamecocks’ secret weapon this spring.

Galitsky won her first college event in only her second start Tuesday, capturing the Moon Golf Invitational at Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Florida. She did so by draining a 35-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to knock off the No. 1 amateur in the world, Florida State junior Lottie Woad. Galitsky shot 3-under 69 in the final round to get into the playoff, and now she has her first college victory in tow.

Woad hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 in almost two years in any amateur competition, and the reigning Smyth Salver winner and Augusta National Women’s Amateur champ is one of the favorites to win the Annika Award this spring, given to college golf’s most outstanding player. But Galitsky, who was 3 under in her final nine holes, chased down Woad to force a playoff, and then she buried the long birdie putt to emphasize her arrival to college golf.

Florida State won the team title, finishing at 2 under, the only team under par. Wake Forest and South Carolina rounded out the top three.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Eila Galitsky beats Lottie Woad in playoff to win Moon Golf title