Clemson Finishes Fourth At North Florida Collegiate

Feb. 10, 2004

Gregg Jones shot a team best 72 in the final round to finish third overall and lead Clemson to a fourth-place finish at the North Florida Collegiate Championship at Sawgrass Golf Club in Ponte Vedra, FL on Tuesday. It was the first tournament of the spring for the Tigers, who are ranked third by the Golf Coach’s Association and second by the Sagarin computer rankings.

South Carolina won the event with a score of 861, 27 shots better than second-place Oklahoma State and Florida. The Tigers were tied for fourth with Texas at 889, one shot behind the two second place teams. Tennessee was sixth at 891, followed by LSU at 895. Host school North Florida was tied for eighth with Kentucky at 898. Georgia was 10th at 900, while NC State was 11th at 905. Other ACC schools in the field were Duke (14th at 914), North Carolina (16th at 915) and Florida State (17th at 919).

It marked just the third time South Carolina had finished higher than Clemson in the same tournament in the last 20 events over the last four years and it broke a 13-tournament streak of higher finishes for the Tigers in head to head competition.

Jones had rounds 77-66-72 in finishing tied for third with Jake Thompson of South Carolina. Jones’s 66 in the second round tied for his career best at Clemson. He had a steady even-par round on Tuesday, including nine straight pars on the back nine. Jason Hartwick from Texas won the event with a 211 score, three shots better than Erick Johansen of South Carolina. Hartwick fired a 67 in the final round.

Jack Ferguson was Clemson’s second best golfer at the event with a 14th place finish. He had a 75 on Tuesday to go with a 70 in the second round and an opening round 76. Matt Hendrix struggled on Tuesday with two double bogeys on the back nine and finished 34th at 225. He shot a 76 in the first round and the final round. Hendrix had not shot over a 73 so far this year.

Brian Duncan fired a 76 on Tuesday and finished at 239, 78th place. His opening round 88 certainly hurt his chances for a high individual finish. Brent Delahoussaye shot an 80 on Tuesday, his high round of the year and finished 62nd.

Clemson will next be in action at the Puerto Rico Classic, February 22-24 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Clemson at North Florida Collegiate

Gregg Jones             77      66      72      215     -1      3rdJack Ferguson           76      70      75      221     +5      14thMatt Hendrix            76      73      76      225     +9      34thBrent Delahoussaye      77      76      80      233     +17     62ndBrian Duncan            88      75      76      239     +23     78thClemson                 306     284     299     889     +25     4th