Clemson Heads to Bellsouth Intercollegiate

April 5, 1999

Current Tigers 1-2-3 in Career Stroke Average An example of the level of play and depth of this year’s Clemson golf team is reflected in the list of the school’s all-time leaders in career stroke average. The top three leaders in Clemson history in this category are on the current Clemson team. And, all are underclassmen.

The career stroke average leaders list is based on a minimum of 50 rounds played in a career.

Sophomore John Engler has a 72.23 career average for 61 rounds, first in Clemson history. He is followed by classmate Lucas Glover at 72.48. Junior Jonathan Byrd, a veteran of 105 rounds, is third at 72.65. That is saying something for a program that boasts recent All-Americans Chris Patton, Kevin Johnson, Charles Warren and Richard Coughlan.

All three of the current Tigers have enhanced their career averages this season. Byrd has a 71.37 average for the year to go with his 72.65 career average. Engler is second on the team this year with a 71.74 stroke average, while Glover stands at 72.26 for the year, below his 72.48 career average. All three players have 27 rounds and nine tournaments so far this season.

    Clemson Career Stroke Average Leaders    Rk  Name            Years   Rds   Stks    Ave    1.  John Engler     1997-pr  61  4,406  72.23    2.  Lucas Glover    1997-pr  58  4,204  72.48    3.  Jonathan Byrd   1996-pr 105  7,628  72.65    4.  Chris Patton    1986-90 139 10,106  72.71    5.  Kevin Johnson   1985-89 147 10,711  72.86    6.  Charles Warren  1994-98 144 10,510  72.99    7.  Nicky Goetze    1989-93 159 11,638  73.19

Clemson Heads to BELLSOUTH Intercollegiate Clemson will play its third tournament in three weekends when it travels to Cary, NC for the BELLSOUTH Yellow Pages Intercollegiate April 9-10. The 12-team event will be played at MacGregor Downs in Cary. This is a par 72 course that is 6,776 yards in length, the second shortest course Clemson has played this year. Only the 6651 yard Arthur Hills Course at Hilton Head Island, site of the Golf World Collegiate last November, is shorter.

The 12 teams competing include ACC members Clemson, Duke, Wake Forest, NC State and North Carolina. Teams from East Tennessee State, Kansas, UNLV, New Mexico, Minnesota, Texas A&M and Tulsa complete the field.

This is Clemson’s 10th straight year in this event. Clemson won the tournament in 1997 with an 855 score, as Richard Coughlan won medalist honors, the only individual championship of his Clemson career. Clemson finished second in 1996 with an 868. The Tigers were fifth last year with an 880 score. Clemson struggled at the event the first four years, finishing eighth or ninth each year.

Charles Warren was Clemson’s top golfer at the BELLSOUTH last year with a 214 score, good enough for third place. Fellow senior Joey Maxon was fifth with a 216. The other three Tigers who competed that weekend are still on the team will will compete this weekend. Lucas Glover had a 226 for 35th, John Engler had a 227 for 38th and Jonathan Byrd shot a 230 for 44th. For Engler and Byrd it remains their highest tournament scores as members of the Clemson golf team.

Clemson Finishes Ninth at Carpet Classic Clemson’s golf team, ranked number-one in the nation entering the Carpet Classic, will enter the BELLSOUTH Intercollegiate coming off its worst tournament finish of the year. The Tigers finished ninth out of 18 teams at the Carpet Classic and shot a +18 score of 882. Only an 896 at The Preview back in September is worse. Clemson did not have a top 10 individual finisher for the first time this year.

Clemson did have a pair of top 20 finishers as Jonathan Byrd and John Engler both shot 218 totals, good enough for a tie for 19th. Byrd’s best round was a 70 in the second round, while Engler had a 70 in the opening round and a par 72 in the final round. It was only the fourth time this year in 27 rounds that Engler failed to score 75 or under.

Lucas Glover, the defending co-medalist at the event had a 226 and finished 55th. Freshman Michael Hoey had the best round by a Tiger with a 69 in the second round, but shot 80 and 78 in his other two rounds and finished 60th. Senior Elliot Gealy had a 235 and finished 79th.

Clemson 28-13-1 against Top 10 Teams Clemson was number-one in the nation entering the Carpet Classic. The Tigers finished ninth in that event to put their number-one ranking in jeopardy for the next poll (April 8), but the Tigers still have a strong showing against the nation’s top teams this year. Five tournament championships in nine tournaments have a lot to do with that.

A look to the Mastercard rankings of April 1 tells us that Clemson has been in tournaments against the other nine teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation. The Tigers have also faced 16 of the 19 other teams ranked in the top 20 and 18 of the other 24 teams in the top 25.

So far this year, Clemson is 28-13-1 against the top 10 teams and has a stroke margin of -304, or -34 strokes per team.

No top 25 team has a stroke margin advantage against Clemson and only Georgia has a head to head won-loss advantage against the Tigers (3-4). UNLV and Oklahoma State are 2-2 against the Tigers this season.

Clemson Among National Stat Leaders Clemson was ranked number-one in the three college golf polls on April 1, and Larry Penley’s team has the stats in various golf performance categories to back up that ranking. As a team, Clemson ranked in the top 10 in the nation in seven of the eight possible areas computed by GolfStat (as of March 24). That includes a number-one ranking in par 4 scoring average.

Individually, four different Clemson players rank one or two in the nation in various categories. John Engler and Michael Hoey rank one-two in the nation in both percentage of fairways hit and greens reached in regulation. Jonathan Byrd, Clemson’s highest ranked player, is first in total short game, third in putts on greens reached in regulation and 10th in par four scoring. Lucas Glover is second in subpar strokes per round.

Byrd 14-under for the Year Jonathan Byrd led Clemson to victory at the Schenkel Invitational. He fired a two-under-par 214 to finish in a tie for fourth. It was his sixth top 10 finish of the year, his eighth in a row in the top 20. Byrd’s final round 69 was the best individual round of the tournament for a Tiger and it was his 22nd career round in the 60s. Byrd then finished 19th at the Carpet Classic, giving him nine straight top 20s this year.

Byrd won medalist performer honors in the first tournament of the year, as his 207 won the Ridges intercollegiate at Johnson City, TN. He was also second at the Golf World in November.

For his career, Byrd now has a 72.65 career average, third in Clemson history behind only teammates John Engler and Lucas Glover.

Byrd now has 19 top 10 finishes in 35 career events, and he is the only Clemson golfer in history to have over 50 percent of his tournaments end in top 10 finishes. Kevin Johnson is the closest with 27 top 10s in 54 career tournaments.

Byrd now has 41 career under-par rounds, already fifth in school history and is fourth in rounds in the 60s with 22. Remember he is only a junior. Byrd needs just two rounds under par to pass former Clemson All-American and current Mississippi State coach Nicky Goetze for fourth place.

The native of Columbia is attempting to become the first Clemson golfer in history to be first-team All-ACC as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

Engler Breaks 12-year-old Record John Engler punctuated his 205 performance with a 65 at the San Juan Shootout and won co-medalist honors with East Tennessee State’s David Christensen. Engler’s 205 score and -11 rating versus par broke school records in both areas for a Clemson sophomore, another indication of the young talent on this Clemson team.

Engler broke the sophomore tournament record held by Kevin Johnson, who had a 206 (-10) at the Homberg Intercollegiate in 1986-87. The 205 by Engler this year tied for the second best overall tournament in Clemson history. Chris Patton had a 204 for a 54-hole All-American Tournament in 1990. That was at the Sun Bowl Tournament. Patton also shot a 205 at the event in 1989. Thus, Charles Warren and Engler are the only Clemson players in history to have a 205 in a team tournament. Hoey Has Had an Impact

Last season John Engler and Lucas Glover both shattered the school record for season stroke average by a freshman. That record might be in jeopardy again, as freshman Michael Hoey has had a strong showing for his first four events.

The freshman from Ireland has a 73.19 stroke average so far this year and has finished in the top 20 in five of his seven events. He has three top 12 finishes, including his 212 score at the San Juan Shootout. He finished 13th at the Schenkel, but he was Clemson’s second best competitor, a key to Clemson’s team victory.

Hoey finished sixth in his first event as a Clemson golfer, the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate when he had a 207, best tournament score in Clemson history for a freshman. He was tied for first after a 67 after the opening round of the San Juan Shootout. A final round 75 knocked him out of the top 10, but his four under par performance was still outstanding.

Active Tigers have Five Medalist Honors Three different current Tigers have won a tournament in their careers. Jonathan Byrd, who has been first-team All-ACC as a freshman and sophomore, has won two titles, the 1997 San Juan Shootout, and The Ridges, this past fall. Lucas Glover also has a pair of wins, last year’s Carpet Classic and the Mauna Kea this past November. John Engler, perhaps Clemson’s most consistent golfer, won his first career event at the San Juan Shootout.

Clemson #1 in Sagarin Poll Clemson is ranked number-one in the nation in the latest Jeff Sagarin Computer poll and the Mastercard poll (April 1). This is the first year that Sagarin Computer rankings have been used to rate college golf teams and individuals.

Clemson has three consensus top 10 players, the only school in the nation that can make that claim. Jonathan Bryd is the top rated Tiger, ranking third in Sagarin, jfourth in Mastercard and fourth by Golfstat. John Engler is fifth by MasterCard, sixth by Sagarin and seventh by Golfstat. Lucas Glover is top 10 in all three polls.

Mastercard Rankings (April 1) 1. Clemson, 2. Georgia, 3. UNLV, 4. Oklahoma State, 5. Georgia Tech, 6. Houston, 7. Texas, 8. BYU 9. Florida, 10. Arizona State.

Sagarin Top 10 (April 1) 1. Clemson, 2. Georgia, 3. Oklahoma State, 4. Georgia Tech, 5. UNLV, 6. Houston, 7. Texas, 8. Arizona State, 9. South Carolina, 10. Florida

Clemson CapturesTigers Finish 4th at Golf Digest Collegiate Lucas Glover fired a career best six-under-par 66 to lead Clemson to a 278 team score on the final day and a fourth-place team finish at the Golf Digest Collegiate at Desert Inn Country Club in Las Vegas. The Tigers had the second lowest team round of the final day, but defending National Champion UNLV was two strokes better and won the tournament by four shots over Georgia.

UNLV had a team score of 855 to win the event, nine-under par. The host team had shot 298 on the first day, but finished with scores of 281 and 276 on the last two days over the course they play often during the season. Georgia had a 285 score on the final day, seven strokes more than the Tigers, but the team from Athens had an 859 score to finish second.

Oklahoma State, who has been to the NCAA National Tournament a record 52 consecutive years, was third at 862, one stroke better than the Tigers, who have been to the National event 17 consecutive years.

Georgia Tech finished fifth with an 870 score, the fifth consecutive tournament this year and ninth time in the last 10 over two years Clemson has beaten the second ranked Yellow Jackets. Arizona State was sixth at 878, while Texas was seventh at 879. New Mexico ranked eighth at 880, while top 10 Houston finished ninth at 882. Defending champion Virginia was 10th at 887. There were 15 teams in the field and 13 are ranked in the top 20 in the nation.

Glover showed consistent improvement over the course of the event and his 211 score for the event was fifth best overall, best among the Tigers. His 66 on Sunday tied for the best individual round of the entire tournament. He fired an incredible 29 on the back nine, including an eagle on the last hole. John Engler made a 10-stroke improvement over his second round and finished 14th after a final round 67 and a tournament score of 217.

Jonathan Byrd had a 71 on Sunday and finished 18th with a two-over-par 218. Senior Elliot Gealy, among the leaders after the first day, had a 74 on Sunday and was 36th at 222. Freshman Michael Hoey had an 80 on Sunday and was 57th with a 230 score.

Tigers Win San Juan Shootout John Engler fired a seven-under par 65 to take co-medalist honors and lead the Clemson golf team to the championship of the San Juan Shootout at the River Course at Rio Mar Country Club in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The victory was the fourth of the year in six tournaments for Larry Penley’s Tigers, who did nothing to hurt their #1 ranking in all three college golf polls.

Clemson won the event by four strokes over Georgia Tech (834). Georgia and East Tennessee State were tied for third at 858, six-under par. NC State was fifth at 860, while Texas was sixth at 870. North Carolina was seventh at 873, Duke was 10th at 888, Virginia 12th at 894, Wake Forest 13th at 898 and Florida State 15th at 903. The 18-team field included 10 of the top 25 teams in the nation.

Engler fired a 65 on Feb. 23rd to tie David Christensen of East Tennessee State. Engler had rounds of 70-70-65 for his 205 score, the lowest tournament of his career. His 65 was not a season low, as the native of Augusta, GA had a 64 in the second round of the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate. He did become the first Clemson golfer in history to have two rounds at 65 or better in the same year. It was the first victory of Engler’s career.

Clemson won the event with a 34-under team score, 830. That is a Clemson record for a 54-hole tournament score, breaking the record of 832 set earlier this fall at the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate. It also broke the record for strokes under-par in a tournament. The previous best was -31 at the NCAA Championships last year.

All five Clemson golfers finished at four-under par or better for the event and all five finished in the top 12. Both of those accomplishments were Clemson firsts. Elliot Gealy, Clemson’s number-five golfer, shot a 71 on Tuesday and finished at five-under par 211. That was the best 54-hole score of his career by six shots. Lucas Glover tied Gealy for eighth place with a consistent 71-70-70 for a 211 score.

Jonathan Byrd won the team comeback award for the event. After an opening round 76, Byrd had rounds of 69 and 67 over the final two days for a 212 total, four-under par. He tied for 12th along with Clemson freshman Michael Hoey. The 12th-place finish ended Byrd’s string of top 10 finishes at five.

Clemson Takes Schenkel Invitational Statesboro, GA – Clemson overcame a five-stroke deficit entering the final round, then defeated Georgia on the second hole of a sudden death team playoff to claim the championship of the Chris Schenkel Invitational at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, GA.

The victory was Clemson’s fifth tournament title in eight events for the Tigers, who did nothing to hurt their consensus number-one ranking. The fifth victory of the year ties the Clemson record for tournament championships in a season. Clemson also won five tournaments in 1986-87 and in 1987-88. The 15-team field included seven of the top 20 teams in the nation.

Clemson shot a 291 on Sunday and had an 869 total for the 54 holes, the same score as Georgia, who had a 296 in the final round. Both teams counted four pars on the first extra hole, then Clemson won the event on the second extra hole.

Jonathan Byrd led the Tigers with a 69 in the final round and a fourth place overall ranking. It was his sixth top 10 finish in eight events this year and his final round 69 was his ninth round in the 60s this year. The native of Columbia is now -16 for his 24 rounds this season, best on the Clemson team.

Michael Hoey and Lucas Glover shot final round scores of 73 and both finished in the top 20 overall for the event. Hoey, a freshman from Ireland, finished 13th at the event with his 219 54-hole score, while Glover, a native of Greenville, and Wade Hampton High School, had a 221 score to rank 19th.

John Engler had a 76 on Sunday and finished 15th for the event with a 220 score. Jani Saari, playing in his first career tournament, shot a 79 in the final round for a 224 score and was 34th.

Clemson has Five Tournament Victories Clemson’s win at the Schenkel was the fifth of the academic year for Larry Penley’s program, tying the Clemson single year record. Clemson also won The Ridges, the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate and the Mauna Kea in the fall and the San Juan Shootout in the Spring. The school record for tournament titles in the same academic year is five, set in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Clemson had three wins in 1997-98, the Jerry Pate, the Carpet Classic and the ACC Tournament. Clemson has won at least one tournament every year since 1980-81.

Tigers 20-under in Six of Last 12 Tourneys Perhaps the greatest documentation of Clemson’s level of play over the last couple of years has been an examination of the team’s scores versus par. Clemson shot -34 for the 54 holes of the San Juan Shootout, an all-time record for any Clemson tournament, regardless of the number of holes. That was the third time this year and the sixth time in the last 12 tournaments that Clemson has been 20-under par or better for a tournament. In the previous 68 seasons of Clemson golf, Clemson had just two tournaments in which it was 20-under-par or better.