Sunday 09/09/2012
CLEMSON, SC – Red-shirt freshman Stephen Behr fired his second consecutive round of three-under-par 69 to lead Clemson to a tie for fourth place at the 15-team Carpet Classic in Dalton, GA on Sunday. The 54-hole event on the par 72 hole course known as The Farm, featured number-one ranked Alabama, number-two ranked Texas and five other top 25 teams, including the 24th ranked Tigers.
Texas won the event with a 13-under par team score of 851. Georgia was second at 856 and Alabama was third at 865. Clemson was tied for fourth with LSU at 871, one shot ahead of Wake Forest. Among the teams Clemson defeated were defending ACC Champion Georgia Tech, state rival South Carolina and seventh ranked Auburn.
Behr had quite a debut, one of three freshmen in the starting lineup for Larry Penley’s Tigers, the first time he has had three freshmen in his lineup for the first tournament of the season. Behr had rounds of 71-69-69 for a 209 total that was good enough for fourth place. Brandon Stone (204) and Jordan Spieth (206), both of champion Texas, and T.J. Mitchell of Georgia were the only golfers ahead of Behr.
The native of Florence, SC tied with Alabama All-American Bobby Wyatt, and defeated two other Alabama All-Americans, Justin Thomas and Cory Whitsett. He also beat reigning US Amateur champion Steven Fox by 10 shots.
“Stephen was outstanding the entire tournament,” said Penley. “He hit fairways and greens and he left his ball in good places on the greens. He was outstanding on Sunday on a difficult day for scoring.”
In fact, Behr’s round of 69 on Sunday tied for the best in the field of 78 golfers with Tennessee’s Rick Lamb. The scoring average for the field on Sunday was 75.01. For the tournament, Behr had 15 birdies, fifth best in the field, and he played the par three holes at two under par, tied for the best in the field.
Behr is the first Clemson freshman to score under par in all three rounds of his first tournament, and is the first Clemson freshman to finish in the top four of his first career tournament since Ben Martin finished third at the 2006 Carpet Classic.
While Behr was Clemson’s top golfer for the weekend, another freshman was the second best, as Cody Proveaux had a three-day total of 222, good enough for 31st place. The two-time AJGA All-American had rounds of 71-72-79 and had 14 birdies, tied for sixth best in the field.
Crawford Reeves, Clemson’s top player and senior leader, finished 40th with a 223 total. He had a second round 70 that keyed Clemson’s improvement from eighth place to third after two rounds. He had 12 birdies in the tournament to rank eighth among the 78 players.
Freshman Miller Capps had an opening round 79, but came back with a 70 and 75 in the final round to count two of the three days. Sophomore Billy Kennerly had a final round 75 and also counted towards Clemson’s team score on Sunday.
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