Clemson Tied for Second after First Round of Cougar Classic

CHARLESTON, SC – Sloan Shanahan hit the first shot in the history of Clemson women’s golf at 12:40 PM Sunday, then finished with the best round of the day by a Clemson golfer over five hours later, leading J.T. Horton‘s Tigers to a 285 team score and a second place standing after 36 holes of the 11th annual Cougar Classic near Charleston, SC.

The 54 hole event is being held at Yeamans Hall in Hanahan, SC where 20 teams from around the country, but mostly from the ACC and SEC are competing. It is the first tournament in this history of the Clemson woman’s program. The College of Charleston is the host school.

Mississippi State leads the field after the first round with a team score of 282. Clemson and South Carolina are tied for second at 285. ACC rivals NC State and Wake Forest are tied for fourth at 287. Clemson finished ahead of SEC schools Florida, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Missouri and Mississippi on Sunday.

Shanahan had quite a day. She had the honor of hitting the first shot in school history, a drive down the middle on the first hole. She went on to make a birdie to get the day off to an excellent start. Her score of 69 included a 32 on the back nine thanks to four birdies and five pars. She made consecutive birdies on holes 15, 16 and 17 to set the early school record for consecutive birdies in a round. She finished the day with five birdies, also the top figure by a Tiger on Sunday.

Lauren Salazar, who spent last year at Clemson red-shirting, shot a one under par 71. The native of California had a clean round of three birdies and two bogeys to go with a team best 13 pars.

Ashlan Ramsey, the number-one amateur in the world according to Golfweek, had an even par 72 in her first career round as a Tiger. She finished with three birdies and three bogeys, but birdied two of her last four holes to give her momentum going into Monday. She made birdie on three of the four par fives.

Jessica Hoang had a solid round and scored a 73 in her first career appearance. She finished with four birdies, three bogeys and a double. Her birdie total ranked second to Shanahan’s for the first day of Clemson women’s golf.

McKenzie Talbert had a four over par 76. She played the first nine in 39, then finished with a 37 on the back, including a birdie on the 15th hole.

Hole by hole scoring is recorded each day on GolfStat.com.

J.T. Horton Quotes:“I am very proud of these young ladies and their start today. This was a big day for Clemson Women’s Golf and Clemson Athletics to get this program officially started. We had a ton of Tiger Fans here today and we greatly appreciate all of their support!

“I am proud of each and every one of our players on this whole team. All six of them have worked very hard to prepare for this event. We are looking forward to the next couple of days.”