Clemson Third Entering Final Round in Puerto Rico

Clemson, S.C.—Miller Capps and Billy Kennerly both shot second-round scores of two-under-par 70 and Clemson is in third place at the 15-team Puerto Rico Classic entering Tuesday’s final round.  The Tigers have a 578 team score after 36 holes, trailing only Georgia (561) and Georgia Tech (566) at the tournament held at the Rio Mar River Course in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Clemson is ahead of nationally ranked Alabama, the defending NCAA Champion, by four shots, and has a 13-shot lead over ninth-ranked North Carolina.

Capps and Kennerly are both in the hunt for medalist honors, as Capps is tied for first at five-under-par 139 for the first two rounds.  Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka of Georgia are also tied or the lead. Kennerly is tied for fourth with Greyson Sigg of Georgia, Robby Shelton and Dru Love of Alabama.   Shelton and Capps were co-champions of the Puerto Rico Classic last year, while Love is the son of PGA Tour veteran Davis Love.

If Capps can gain victory on Tuesday he would become just the fourth player in Clemson history to win the same event twice in a career. The others to do it are Billy Delk, Chris Patton and Charles Warren. Warren won the ACC twice, the only Clemson gofler to do that.

Capps has 11 birdies for the first two rounds, tied for the most in the 75-player field.  He was four-under after 14 holes  and had a two-shot lead on Monday, then double bogeyed the first hole and followed with a bogey on the second to quickly drop to one-under for the day.  He finished with a birdie to get back into a tie for the lead.

Kennerly had another clean scorecard as he had two birdies and no bogeys.  The senior has made 30 pars over the first two rounds, second best in the field.   For the first 36 holes, Kennerly is -2 on the par three holes, tied for the best in the field.

Josh Fickes had a solid day on Monday with a one over par 73 and he stands in a tie for 35^th place with a 146 total.  The freshman got off to a good start and was one-under through five holes, but he made a double on the third hole.  He did par his last three holes.

Cody Proveaux had a gutty performance with a five-over-par 77.  Clemson’s number one player is playing with a strained stomach muscle that forced him to withdraw on Sunday.  He made a double bogey on the seventh hole (his first hole of the day) and a triple on the 11^th.  He was six-over-par for his first nine holes, but he did not give up and played the final nine holes in one-under, including birdies on two of his last three holes.

Carson Young, who played well on Sunday with a 74, slipped to an 82 on Monday was Clemson’s non counter.