Clemson 15th as Rain Halts NCAA Golf Tournament

May 29, 2002

Columbus, OH – Clemson’s Gregg Jones stood at two under par through 15 holes when rain halted play at the NCAA Men’s Golf Tournament at the Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University on Wednesday. The Tigers stood in 15th place as a team when rain, thunder and lightning stopped play at 4:30 PM Eastern time.

Clemson was two over par with all five players through at least through 14 holes. At the time of the storm, D.J. Trahan was at even par, Jones was two under, junior Ben Duncan was one over par, Matt Hendrix was a three over and freshman Martin Catalioto was three over. That computes to a two-over team score (count top four scorers to compute team total).

Catalioto birdied the 16th hole to get to three over, then hit his approach to 10 feet on the par three 17th with a chance to save another stroke when the rains came. Trahan was at the 15th tee when the rains came and halted play. Jones had finished 15, while Duncan and Hendrix were on 16.

Jones had a solid round going through 15. He birdied the seventh and ninth holes to turn at 34, then parred the 10th through the 15th holes. He missed a four foot birdie putt on the par three 13th hole, depriving him of another birdie.

Trahan bogeyed the 460-yard par four second hole, but came back with a birdie on the par five fourth. He hit his second shot into a trap by the green, then got up and down from the bunker to pull even. Trahan then parred holes 5-14 before the rains hit.

Duncan turned at one over, then birdied the 10th hole. He gave away another shot on the back before the inclement weather halted play.

Georgia Tech was eight under par when the rains came and was battling for the lead with Illinois. Washington, who played with the Tigers on Wednesday and will continue on Thursday, was eight under on the front side, then was four over on the back. Colorado was the best of the teams that played in the morning with a four-under par 280.

“We just didn’t make enough birdies,” said Head Coach Larry Penley. “You don’t want to hit it in the rough on this course and we did too many times.

We did a good job scrambling and did not make any big numbers, but we needed to make more birdies. You can make birdies on this course if you drive it in the fairway. Perhaps we need to hit more three woods and irons off the tee.

“Gregg was doing a good job and D.J. was playing well, but no scoring. “We obviously have to improve, but there is still a lot of golf to be played. We haven’t even finished the first round yet. This is a tough golf course, we just have to keep working.”

The 30 teams will continue play on Thursday. Unlike previous years, there is no 15-team cut. All 30 teams will play all four days for the first team in the tournament’s history. Clemson has finished in the top 10 in the event five consecutive years.