Golf Team Still Ranked Number-One

May 21, 2003

Larry Penley’s Clemson golf team remains ranked number-one in the nation in all three college golf polls entering the NCAA national tournament. Clemson has been ranked number-one by Golf World, Golfweek/Sagarin and the Precept Coach’s poll for every poll this spring. Clemson has been number-one since the fall in the Precept and the Golf World polls.

In the Precept Coach’s Poll, Clemson earned 21 of the 30 first place votes. No other school had more than three first-place votes. The Tigers are ranked ahead of second-place Augusta State and third-ranked Texas. Wake Forest is ranked fourth, meaning three of the top four teams in the nation are in the Southeast.

Clemson is first and Florida is second in the Sagarin/Golfweek Computer Poll. The Tigers have a margin of 1.02 rating points. Clemson’s distance between itself and Florida is equal to the margin in rating points between the Gators and 17th ranked New Mexico, an indication of Clemson’s strength in the computer poll this year.

Clemson has a 95-8-3 record in head to head tournament competition against the top Top 25 teams, by far the best top 25 record in the nation. That is a .910 winning percentage, far ahead of Oklahoma State’s .696 figure (58-25-1), the second best percentage against top 25 competion. Clemson is also ranked number-two by Golfweek in terms of strength of schedule, trailing only Texas.

Individually, Clemson has three of the top 10 players in the nation according to the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. D.J. Trahan is second, while Jack Ferguson is fifth and Matt Hendrix is 10th. Gregg Jones has moved up to 41st after his outstanding second place finish in the NCAA East Regional. Clemson is the only school in the nation with three players ranked in the top 10 and four in the top 50. Only Florida and Texas have as many as three top 50 players. Clemson has never finished a season with three players ranked in the top 10 in the final individual poll. The number-one ranked player in the nation is Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State.

Precept Coach's Poll        (As of May 6, 2003)        Rk      School  Pts        1.      Clemson         709        2.      Augusta State   650        3.      Texas           637        4.      Wake Forest     586        5.      Oklahoma State  583        6.      UCLA            566        7.      Arizona         540        8.      Florida         519        9.      TCU             516        10.     UNLV            454        11.     Auburn          353        12.     Georgia         351        13.     North Carolina  350        14.     Georgia Tech    327                Minnesota       327        16.     NC State        265        17.     Arizona State   258        18.     Oklahoma        192        19.     New Mexico      177        20.     Washington      156        21.     Illinois        118        22.     College of Charleston   100        23.     Arkansas        93        24.     Pepperdine      87        25.     Duke            75

Golfweek/Sagarin Computer Ranking (May 20, 2003) Rk School Rating 1. Clemson 69.67 2. Florida 70.69 3. Wake Forest 70.78 4. Texas 70.87 5. Oklahoma State 70.87 6. Arizona 70.89 7. Augusta State 70.92 8. UNLV 71.10 9. UCLA 71.11 10. North Carolina 71.16 11. TCU 71.17 12. Georgia 71.32 13. Georgia Tech 71.33 14. Auburn 71.40 15. Minnesota 71.53 16. Arizona State 71.65 17. New Mexico 71.71 18. NC State 71.72 19. Tennessee 71.81 20. Illinois 71.84 21. College of Charleston 71.84 22. Washington 71.86 23. Arkansas 71.87 24. South Carolina 71.98 25. Duke 72.05

Golf World (As of May 16) Rk School Pts 1. Clemson 299 2. Texas 263 3. Augusta State 259 Wake Forest 259 5. Oklahoma State 249 6. Arizona 232 7. TCU 228 8. UCLA 224 9. Florida 212 10. UNLV 205 11. Minnesota 167 12. North Carolina 162 13. Georgia 135 14. Auburn 128 15. Georgia Tech 124 16. N.C State 115 17. Arizona State 111 18. Washington 86 19. New Mexico 72 20. Illinois 60 21. College of Charleston 56 22. Pepperdine 47 23. Oklahoma 40 24. SMU 31 25. Arkansas 28

Golfweek/Sagarin Individual Computer Rankings (As of May 20, 2003) Rk Player School Rating 1. Hunter Mahan Oklahoma State 68.72 2. D.J. Trahan Clemson 69.17 3. Troy Matteson Georgia Tech 69.48 4. Bill Haas Wake Forest 69.52 5. Jack Ferguson Clemson 69.62 6. Brandt Snedeker Vanderbilt 69.73 7. Oliver Wilson Augusta State 69.79 8. Nick Watney Fresno State 69.79 9. Ricky Barnes Arizona 69.81 10. Matt Hendrix Clemson 69.82 11. Chris Nallen Arizona 69.89 12. Dustin Bray North Carolina 69.92 13. James Lepp Illinois 70.12 14. David Inglis Tulsa 70.15 15. Justin Walters NC State 70.20 16. Camilo Villegas Florida 70.21 17. Ryan Moore UNLV 70.21 18. Brock MacKenzie Washington 70.24 19. Michael Letzip New Mexico 70.28 20. Jason Hartwick Texas 70.31 41. Gregg Jones Clemson 71.05