Clemson Opens Play in Tempe Regional Thursday

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson will open play in the NCAA Regional Golf Tournament at Tempe, AZ on Thursday morning at 10:30 AM Eastern time, 7:30 AM in Tempe.  The Tigers will be paired with #6 seed Vanderbilt and #4 seed Texas A&M.  The Tigers are seeded fifth in the 14-team tournament.  The top five schools will advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament near Atlanta, GA May 28-June 2.

This is the 32^nd consecutive year the Clemson program has been selected for the NCAA Men’s Golf Tournament, the 30th consecutive year under Head Coach Larry Penley.  It is the longest streak of consecutive NCAA team tournament appearances in Clemson sports history.   Only Oklahoma State (66) has a longer streak among Division I golf programs.

Clemson has an outstanding history in NCAA Regional play.  This is the 25th year of NCAA regional play and Clemson has won the regional championship seven times.  Penley is the only Division I coach with seven regional championships.   Clemson has qualified for the NCAA National tournament through the regional 19 times in the last 24 years.  Clemson has won seven NCAA regional championships, second in the nation to Oklahoma State’s nine.  Arizona State and Arizona have six.

The Tigers will play three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior in the NCAA Regional.  It is first time Clemson has had three freshmen in the lineup for an NCAA Tournament since 2007 (Kyle Stanley, Ben Martin, Sam Saunders) and for just the fourth time in history.  The other years were 1990 and 1995.

This is the first time in school history three freshmen are the top three players in terms of stroke average.  Stephen Behr leads the way with a 72.88 figure, an average that is on pace to be eighth best in school history for a freshman.  Behr has three top 10 finishes and has had his score count in 25 of 26 rounds this year.

Miller Capps is second in terms of stroke average with a 73.52 figure.  Capps has been first and second among Clemson golfers in the last two tournaments and has shot four under par for those two events. He had an opening round 67 at the Wolfpack Spring Open on April 20, his best round of the year.

Cody Proveaux, the reigning South Carolina Amateur Champion, has a 73.93 stroke average of his 29 rounds in 2012-13.  He leads the team in rounds at 75 or better and is first in par four scoring average at 4.13.  Proveaux showed his capabilities at the ACC Tournament with a second round 67.

Senior Crawford Reeves has a 74.24 stroke average for the year.  He has been outstanding in NCAA Tournament play over his career.  The native of Greenville, SC, who is second in Clemson history in career eagles (14), has finished 13^th, seventh and 14, respectively, in his previous three NCAA regional tournaments. He has a chance to join Gregg Jones (2001-04) as the only players in Clemson history with four consecutive top 15 finishes in NCAA regional play.

Billy Kennerly, a sophomore from Alpharetta, GA, was Clemson’s top player at the ACC Championships with a 10^th place finish off a 213 score.  He hopes the Tigers can make the cut at the regional as the National Championship will be played in his hometown.  Kennerly has a 74.42 stroke average for the year.