Clemson Third After First Round of ACC Golf Tournament

April 21, 2000

CLEMSON, S.C. — John Engler shot a two-under-par 70 and is tied for the first round lead at the ACC men’s golf tournament at The Old North State Club at Uwharrie Point, NC. The event is being played over three days on the par 72 and 7102 yard course.

Engler, a native of Augusta, GA, fired a 70 in the opening round with nine hole scores of 34-36. His round featured a chip-in birdie on the 16th hole, a hole that hurt Clemson’s performance down the stretch. He is tied with Carl Pettersson of NC State’s whose openign 70 led the Pack to the first-round lead. Engler has finished in the top five of the ACC Tournament each of his first two years at Clemson.

The Tigers rank third at the event as a team, six strokes behind NC State, who shot a 284 on Friday. Georgia Tech, ranked first in the nation, shot a 287 score for the first day. Clemson, ranked second in the nation, is third at 290. Wake Forest is fourth at 294, while North Carolina and Maryland are tied for fifth at 295. Duke is seventh at 296, while Virginia is eighth at 300 and Florida State is ninth at 305.

Jonathan Byrd shot a 72 on Friday and is tied for eighth at the event. Lucas Glover, Clemson’s top player this year, shot a 74 on Friday. He was two-under-par coming into the 16th hole, but triple bogeyed that hole and finished at two-over par 74. Jani Saari, like Glover a resident of Greenville, shot a 74. Saari was two under on the front side, but was four over on the back. Freshman D.J. Trahan shot a 74 for the day, three over on the front and one under on the back.

Clemson has won this event two of the last three years and has six overall ACC Tournament championships.