Clemson Opens Golf Season Friday

Sept. 9, 2009

Clemson, SC – Clemson will open its 2009-10 golf season this weekend at the Carpet Classic in Dalton, GA. The 12-team tournament will be played over September 11-13 at The Farm, a par 72 course that is 7012 yards in length. Clemson finished fourth in the event last year when it had an 18-team field.

Seven top 25 teams will be in the field, including Georgia (3), Alabama (4), Georgia Tech (11), South Carolina (15), Tennessee (18), Texas Tech (24) and the 19th ranked Clemson Tigers.

This will be Clemson’s 21st appearance in the Carpet Classic. Clemson has won the event four times, the fall of 1992, 1995, 1997 and 2002. Last year the Tigers finished fourth with a score of 872. Kyle Stanley led the way with a 208 finish, good enough for medalist honors.

Clemson will take two seniors, two sophomores and a freshman to the Farm this weekend. Ben Martin, a two-time All-ACC selection who recently reached the finals of the US Amateur, will lead the Clemson squad to Dalton, GA. He was second on the team in stroke average last year with a 73.00 average. He is 14th in the Clemson history in career stroke average entering his final year.

Red-shirt senior Luke Hopkins will play the number-two spot. The native of Greer, SC played in four tournaments last year, , including the ACC and the NCAA Regional. He was Clemson’s second best golfer at the NCAA regional with a 27th place individual finish.

Jacob Burger will be in the Clemson lineup this weekend. The sophomore from Orangeburg, SC played in three events last year and has reached match play of the North-South Amateur each of the last two years.

Alex Boyd did well in team qualifying to get a spot in the lineup this weekend. Boyd played in two tournaments last year and is a red-shirt sophomore from Augusta, GA.

Rounding out the Clemson lineup will be freshman Crawford Reeves. The native of Greenville, SC and Riverside High School has been on campus for just three weeks, but earned a spot in the lineup through team qualifying last week. He won the South Carolina Match Play Championship this past summer and was a first-team AJGA All-American in 2008.