Monday 05/22/2000
May 22, 2000
CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson will compete in the NCAA National Tournament at Grand National Golf Course in Auburn, AL May 31 to June 3. The host institution is Auburn University. This is the 19th straight year Clemson has advanced to the championship round of the NCAA Tournament, the second longest active streak in the nation. Only Oklahoma State, with 54 straight years in the national event, is longer.
Clemson enters the event on a hot streak, having won the ACC Tournament and the NCAA East Regional in its last two events. This is the first time Clemson has won both of those tournaments in the same year. For the year, Clemson has three first-place finishes (also won the Jerry Pate in the Fall) and four second-place finishes.
Clemson will bring a veteran team to the NCAA national event. Four of the five Tigers took part in the NCAA East Regional and the national even in 1999. The five Clemson players who will go to Auburn have collectively played in 21 NCAA regional and national tournaments. Still, Clemson will have just one senior in its lineup, All-American Jonathan Byrd. Byrd will be playing in his eighth NCAA tournament (regional or national) in his Clemson career. Lucus Glover and John Engler will be playing in their sixth event, while Jani Saari will be in his fourth.
Clemson’s Tentative Lineup for the ACC Tournament
(Note: Overall includes NCAA Regional play)
Jonathan Byrd
Lucas Glover
John Engler
Jani Saari
D.J. Trahan
Clemson’s NCAA Tournament History With Clemson’s #8 national finish in the 1999 NCAA Tournament at Hazeltine in Chaska MN, the Tigers moved to among the most prominent programs in the country. The 1999 appearance was the 18th consecutive year in the national tournament for the Tigers, the second longest streak in the country. Only Oklahoma State, with an incredible 53 consecutive years in the national tournament is longer.
Clemson finished eighth at the NCAAs last year, Clemson’s third straight top 10 finish. this is the first time Clemson has had three straight top 10 finishes in golf, and just the second Clemson program in any sport to do it in the last 20 years. The Tigers baseball team had three straight op 10s from 1994-96.
The Tigers have been to the NCAA Tournament every year since 1982 and have been every year since 1980 with the exception of the 1981 event. Thus, Clemson has been to the NCAA Tournament 18 straight years and 19 of the last 20. All of Clemson’s NCAA national appearances have come since 1980 when Clarence Rose, now on the PGA Tour, was an All-American for the Tigers.
The Tigers finished in the top 15 of the NCAA National Tournament in nine of the 10 years in the decade of the 1990s. That includes 1997 and 1998 when Clemson has finished third and second, respectively. Clemson the only school in the country to finish among the top three teams in the country each of those two seasons. The only year in the 1990s that Clemson has failed to make the cut was in 1995 at Ohio State.
Only Arizona State and Oklahoma State have made the cut in every year of the decade of the 1990s. Clemson and Florida are the only schools to do it in nine of the 10 years in the 1990s.
Clemson has finished in the top 20 of the national event 12 of the last 13 years including five top 10 finishes in the last seven years. Clemson was fourth in 1993 and ninth in 1994. Overall, Clemson has had 16 top 20 finishes in its history.
Clemson’s NCAA National Tournament History
Clemson’s top 10 Individual National Finishes
Clemson Wins East Regional May 20, 2000
Moosic, PA–Jonathan Byrd, Lucas Glover and John Engler all finished in a tie for fourth in the individual race, leading Clemson to the team championship of the NCAA Division I Eastern Regional at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic, PA.
It was the fourth time in the last eight years that Clemson has won the Eastern Regional, more than any other school. It also means Clemson will play in the National Tournament for the 19th straight year, the second longest active streak in the nation.
Clemson won the event by 12 strokes, finishing with an 871 team score. North Florida was a surprising second place at 883, while ACC rival Georgia Tech was third at 884. East Tennessee State was fourth at 888, while Georgia State and Georgia tied for fifth at 889. Mississippi State, coached by former Clemson All-American Nicky Goetze, finished seventh with an 891 score. North Carolina, Wake Forest and Virginia also made the 11-team cut, but NC State did not when top player Carl Pettersson was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
John Engler was Clemson’s top performer on Saturday with a 69, giving him a 215 score for the three rounds. Engler played the final two rounds in three-under-par after an opening round 76. Lucas Glover shot a one-over-par 72 on Saturday to finish with his 215 total. Byrd shot a 73 on Saturday to finish at 215.
It marked the first time that Clemson had three players finish in the top four at the NCAA Regional. Jani Saari shot a 76 on Saturday to finish at 231, while D.J. Trahan had an 81 to finish at 242.
Clemson at NCAA East Regional Glenmaura National, Moosic, PA
Clemson Finishes Second at Ping-Golfweek Preview September 21, 1999
Auburn, AL–Greenville’s Lucas Glover shot a six-under-par 210 to lead Clemson to a second-place team finish among the 18 teams at the Ping-Golfweek Preview at Auburn, AL. The 54-hole event took place at the Grand National Country Club in Auburn, AL. The par 72 course that is 6985 in length is the site of this spring’s NCAA National Championship.
Northwestern shot a 282 team round in the third and final round to defeat the Tigers by eight shots. Clemson had a three-stroke lead entering the final round, but fired a 293 team score after rounds of 279 and 284 to open the tournament. Northwestern was led by NCAA Champion Luke Donald, who won the event with a 208 score, including a 67 in the final round.
Clemson had a team score of 856 for the event, seven shots ahead of third-place Arizona State. Georgia Tech was fourth with an 864 team score, while defending NCAA Champion Georgia and Oklahoma State were tied for fifth with 868. Houston was seventh at 877, while South Carolina finished eighth with an 881 score.
Glover shot a second round 67, on the way to his 210 score, good enough for third place individually. Northwestern had the top two finishers individually. After Donald’s 208 score , teammate Jess Daley was second with 209. Glover, a player for Wade Hampton High during his prep career, had rounds os 71-67-72 and was the only Tiger to shoot par or better in every round.
D.J. Trahan and John Engler finished tied for sixth with 214 scores. Trahan had a 68 in the opening round, his first round as a Tiger, while Engler had a 69 in the first round. It was quite a tournament for Trahan, the native of Inman and Dorman High. He finished in the top 10 and shot under par for his first college tournament.
Jonathan Byrd, playing in his first college event of the year after competing for the United States team in the Walker Cup, shot a 218 for the 54 holes, good enough for 18th. Freshman Ben Duncan shot 221 and tied for 34th.
Clemson at 1999 Ping/Golfweek
Clemson Has Had Success at Grand National Clemson played well in finishing second at Grand National County Club in Auburn last September. The Tigers finished second at the Ping Preview against a stellar field of national teams. That should give Clemson some confidence heading into the NCAAs.
Clemson has won a tournament on that course. Back in 1994 Clemson won its second of three straight NCAA East Regional Tournaments with a 868 team score, including a 278 in the last round. Clemson finished first out of the 23 teams at the event. Mark Swygert led the way with a 213 score, including a 67 on the final day. He won medalist honors for the event. Richard Coughlan was second among Tigers and fourth in the tournament overall with a 217 score, while Tommy Biershenk, currently on the Buy.com Tour, was eighth overall with a 218 score.
Clemson Hopes History Repeats Larry Penley hopes Clemson athletic history will repeat itself this year. In the fall of 1980, Georgia won the National Championship of college football, its first ever. The next year, Clemson, just 90 miles down the road, won its first ever National Championship of college football. Last year, the 1999 spring, Georgia won the NCAA championship of college golf for the first time. Clemson could complete that cycle by winning its first ever NCAA Golf tournament in 2000.
Penley Scores First Double Eagle Clemson Head Coach Larry Penley is still an accomplished golfer. Earlier this fall he competed in the CGA Carolinas Four Ball Tournamnet at Florence Country Club. In the second round of qualifying, Penley scored his first career double eagle on the par five eight hole. He hit driver and 5-iron to the 508 yard hole for the double eagle two.
Tigers Had Nine Straight Under-par Tournaments Clemson had its record streak of nine straight under-par tournaments broken at the NCAA East Regional May 18-20. Clemson was 19 over par for the event, but still won the tournament by 12 shots. Clemson has been under par for nine of its 11 tournaments this year, already a record for under par tournaments in a season. The Ridges Intercollege, the first event of the year, was the only other tournament in which Clemson failed to break par as a team.
Over the last nine events Clemson has finished first three times, and has four second place finishes. All four of those second-place finishes were high profile fields that included at least eight top 20 teams. Clemson finished second at the US Collegiate April 7-9 and that 12-team field included 10 top 15 teams.
This Clemson team is ahead of the pace of the 1997-98 Clemson team in terms of team strokes versus par for the year and stroke average. It needs just four individual rounds in the 60s and three under-par team rounds to break records in those categories. It needs just one top 10 individual finish to tie the record set by the 1997-98 team. This year’s team is on pace to break the school record for scoring average in a season and for under-par team score for the season.
Here is a list of records in range for this team:
Byrd Named All-ACC for Fourth Straight Year Clemson senior Jonathan Byrd was chosen first-team All-ACC in 2000, the fourth straight year he has been named first-team All-ACC. Byrd became the first Clemson player and sixth player in ACC history to be named first-team four times. The other players who have accomplished this feat are Gary Hallberg of Wake Forest (1977-80), Robert Wrenn of Wake Forest (1978-81), Billy Andrade of Wake Forest (1983-86), David Duval of Georgia Tech (1990-93) and classmate Matt Kuchar of Georgia Tech (1997-00).
Byrd is also just the 14th athlete in Clemson history to be four-time first-team All-ACC in any sport, the third in the last decade.
Joining Byrd on the first team were teammates John Engler, Lucas Glover and D.J. Trahan. It was the second time on the team for both Engler and Glover, the first for Trahan. Trahan became just the second freshman in Clemson history to earn first-team All-ACC honors. He also won ACC Rookie of the Year, the first Tiger in history to win that award.
Clemson’s Four-time First-team All-ACC Selections
Four Tigers in Top 20 of MasterCard Rankings (As of May 10, 2000) For the seventh straight week, Clemson is the only school in the nation with four players ranked among the top 20 players in the nation according to the MasterCard rankings. Clemson’s top four players, were rated somewhere between 6th and 19th in the country according to the May 15 ranking. A new ranking will be announced May 25 prior to the NCAA National Tournament.
Lucas Glover is the leader in the from Clemson in the rankings with a number-six position. John Engler, Clemson’s top finisher at the ACC Tournament, is 12th, while first-team All-American Jonathan Byrd is 16th. Freshman D.J. Trahan is ranked 19th overall, but first among freshmen or sophomores, nationally.
As you can see, all four golfers are also highly ranked in the other major golf rankings.
Clemson in 2000 National College Golf Rankings (As of May 10, 2000)
Penley Has won 45 Tournaments Clemson has won 45 tournaments under Head Coach Larry Penley, including three this season. The Tigers won the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate in Birmingham in the fall and the ACC Tournament in the Spring. Clemson added the NCAA East Regional May 18-20. That was Penley’s fourth NCAA East Regional title, more than any other coach. Clemson also has four second place finishes this year. This marks the first time Clemson has won the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Regional Tournament in the same year.
Penley has taken Clemson to the NCAA tournament every year he has been the coach of the Tigers, now 17 in a row dating to 1984. In fact, he has taken Clemson to the championship round every year. Only one other Division I coach, Mike Holder at Oklahoma State, can also make that claim.
Clemson vs. All-Competition in 1999-00 Clemson has competed against 51 different schools in 11 tournaments this year. Only three schools, Georgia Tech (2-5), Oklahoma (0-1) and Texas (1-2), have a winning record against Clemson. Only two schools, Georgia Tech (+13) and Oklahoma (+20) has a winning stroke margin against the Tigers. Clemson has an overall record of 133-20-3 against its 51 competitors, a .862 winning percentage.
Clemson has played a very challenging schedule with an average of eight top 20 teams in each of the fields this year. Clemson is 80-18-2 against the other teams in the 2000 NCAA National Tournament at Auburn. Clemson has played in tournaments against 24 of the other 29 schools and has a 1634 stroke advantage against those schools.
Only four of 67 opponents had a winning record against Clemson in 1998-99.
Byrd Sets Career Record for Under-Par Rounds Jonathan Byrd became Clemson’s all-time career leader in under-par rounds when he had three straight under-par scores at the Chris Schenkel Invitational March 25-26. Byrd’s second under-par round of the tournament, a one-under 71 in the second round on Saturday, was his 54th as a Clemson Tiger, breaking the record of 53 held by Kevin Johnson between 1985-89.
Byrd had three more at the US Collegiate, giving him a streak of seven straight under-par rounds. He now has 60 entering the NCAA national Tournament. He has achieved all those under par rounds in 50 career tournaments and 151 total rounds. The NCAA East Regional was his 50th career tournament as a Tiger.
Byrd tied another Clemson career record at the US Collegiate in Mexico. He now has 60 rounds under par and 13 at par, giving him 73 for his career at par or better, three better than the total Chris Patton had between 1986-90. Byrd has 22 rounds at par or better this year, 17 under-par and five at par. The Clemson record for rounds at par or better in a season is 26 by Charles Warren in 1997-98. John Engler has 23 rounds at par or better this year and Glover has 22.
It is also interesting to note that current juniors John Engler and Lucas Glover are ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, in Clemson history in rounds under par. Engler stands at 44 under-par rounds for his career, including five of his last six in the ACC and NCAA East Regional. Glover is close behind with 39. With this career ranking it is easy to see why Engler, Glover and Byrd rank 1-2-3 in career stroke average at Clemson.
Clemson Career Leaders Rounds Under Par
Clemson Career Leaders in Rounds at Par or better
Trahan National Player of the Month Featured in Sports IllustratedPrinceton, N.J. – Clemson University freshman D.J. Trahan (Inman, South Carolina) was named the Rolex College Golfers of the Month for March, after both won individual titles at Rolex Collegiate Tour events last month.
Trahan won the Las Vegas Intercollegiate, his first Rolex Collegiate Tour victory of the season, after a playoff with Matt Brost of Texas. Trahan fired a nine-under par 207 (73-68-66) while helping to lead Clemson to a sixth-place finish.
Trahan, who was named the Golf World Collegiate Player of the Week for the week of March 17th, also tied for 18th place at the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational, where he shot 72-70-73 (215, -1) while helping the Tigers to a second place finish. Ranked No. 15 in the latest edition of the MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings, Trahan finished the month with a stroke average of 70.33 (six rounds).
Trahan will also be featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd section on April 17th. The Rolex College Golfer of the Month award is voted on by members of the College Golf Foundation’s Golfer of the Month Committee. The award is based primarily on results from Rolex Collegiate Tour events, plus conference championships, NCAA Regionals and the NCAA Championships. Each winner will receive a certificate from the College Golf Foundation in recognition of this honor.
Entering the NCAA National Tournament, Trahan has a 72.78 stroke average, third best in Clemson history if the season ended today. He trails only John Engler and Lucas Glover on the all-time freshman stroke average list.
Glover Had Sensational Fall of 1999 Lucas Glover had the greatest fall season in Clemson history when he had a 70.20 scoring average for 15 rounds in five tournaments this past fall. Glover was 24-under-par for the five tournaments, the best combined score vs. par in a fall season in the sports history. Glover had 10 under par rounds and two more at par.
The native of Greenville who is a two-time defending South Carolina Amateur Champion, had four straight top six finishes to end the fall, including a second-place at the Golf World at Palmetto Dunes. He was an incredible 11-under-par for the 54 holes, and the 205 score tied a Clemson record for lowest 54-hole score in a team event. He was under par for his last seven rounds and shot par of better in each of his last 12 rounds of the fall.
The fantastic fall elevated Glover to a number-six national ranking in the Sagarin individual rankings entering the spring season. He is also now 18th on the world wide US Amateur list according to Golfweek.
Current Tigers Rank one-two-three Current Clemson golfers John Engler, Lucas Glover and Jonathan Byrd rank 1-2-3 in Clemson history in career stroke average. The latest figures that include this academic year show Engler ranked first with a 72.14 career average. Glover is second with a 72.23 figure, while Byrd is fourth at 72.47.
Clemson Career Stroke Average Leaders (Minimum 45 rounds Played)
Current Tigers Three of Top Four in History It is easy to see why Clemson is having such an outstanding season. Three current Tigers are scoring under 71.5 for the year and their stroke averages all rank in the top four in school history for a single season. Lucas Glover’s 71.06 average is on a record pace, while John Engler’s 71.36 would be third and Jonathan Byrd’s 71.42 would be fourth best is the season ended today.
Clemson Single Season Stroke Average Leaders
Glover and Engler Close Statistically John Engler and Lucas Glover could not be closer in terms of their statistics this year and over their careers. For their careers they rank one-two on the Clemson stroke average list and their career stroke averages are just 0.09 apart (72.14 to 72.23). For the first 11 rounds of the spring they had the exact same stroke total. Engler and Glover really play different styles, but the results are just about the same. Engler is more conservative left-hander who is deliberate in his play. Glover is an aggressive right handed player who is one of the quickest players in college. He takes an average of just seven seconds over his shots.
Here is a comparison of career stats that show how close the juniors have been:
Byrd Academic All-American in 1998-99 Clemson golfer Jonathan Byrd chosen to the 1999 Academic All-America team according to the Golf Coaches Association of America and the College Sports Information Directors of America. Byrd was named first-team All-American for his performance on the course in June. Byrd was the only golfer in the nation in 1999 to earn first-team Academic honors and first-team All-America honors on the course.
The native of Columbia is the first Clemson golfer to earn All-America honors on the course and in the classroom in the same year since 1990 when Oswald Drawdy was named to both teams. Byrd is just the second golfer in school history to make both teams in the same year, but the first to be a first-team selection in both.
The junior has a 3.7 grade point average in marketing. He was one of nine Clemson golfers to earn selection to the Clemson academic honor roll for the spring semester of 1999. Larry Penley’s team had a 3.2 team GPA for the spring, highest semester average on record.
Byrd is the seventh athlete in Clemson history, regardless of sport, to be chosen All-American on the field and in the classroom in the same year, the first to do it in nearly a decade.
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