Clemson Finishes Third at Puerto Rico Classic

Feb. 23, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – Luke Hopkins and Ben Martin added a 70 to lead Clemson to a 284 team round on Tuesday and a third-place finish at the Puerto Rico Classic. The 15-team event was played at the River Course at Rio Mar Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

The Tigers finished with a team score of 843, 21-under par. The Tigers shot under par in each round (281-278-284), the first time the Tigers have had three under par rounds in the same tournament since last year’s ACC Tournament. It was the second straight third place finish in a 15-team event for the Tigers. Clemson also finished third two weeks ago at the Jacksonville Invitational.

Tenth-ranked Texas won the tournament with an 822 score, 42-under par. Oklahoma State, ranked number-one in the nation entering the tournament, was second at 828, while the Tigers were third at 843. Northwestern was fourth at 853 and Georgia Tech was fifth at 855. Purdue and Georgia tied for sixth at 856.

It was a strong showing for Clemson who also finished ahead of Oklahoma by 26 shots, Ohio State by 33 shots, and 12th ranked Alabama by 27 shots.

Martin and Hopkins, the senior leaders of the Clemson team, finished in a tie for seventh place at 208, eight-under-par. It was the third top 10 of the year in five events for Martin, who had rounds of 70-68-70. Hopkins score of 208 was the lowest of his career by five shots and the seventh-place finish was also a career best. Hopkins had consistent rounds of 69-70-69.

Kyle Stanley shot a 207 at the Aloha Classic.

Sophomore Jacob Burger was also a counter all three rounds for the Tigers. He had scores of 72-70-76 for a 218 total for his 54 holes, good enough for 39th place. Freshman Crawford Reeves, who had a top 10 finish at Jacksonville, had a 234 score in Puerto Rico and finished 73rd.

Clemson returns to action March 8-9 at the USC-Aiken Cleveland Classic at Palmetto Country Club in Aiken, SC.