Clemson Will Compete In Chris Schenkel Intercollegiate March 25-26

March 13, 2000

Four Underclassmen Probable for Lineup at Schenkel Clemson will be competing in the Chris Schenkel Intercollegiate March 25-26 in Statesboro, GA. The two-day, 54-hole event will be held at the par 72 Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, GA. Georgia Southern is the host school. Clemson is the defending champion.

Head Coach Jonathan Byrd, Clemson’s senior leader, will lead the Tigers to Statesboro, while Lucas Glover and John Engler are two returning junior All-Americans. D.J. Trahan, Clemson’s top golfer so far this spring, is schedule to be joined in the lineup by freshman Ben Duncan, who will be playing in his fourth tournament.

Clemson Defending Champion at the Schenkel Clemson overcame a five-stroke deficit entering the final round, then defeated Georgia on the second hole of a sudden death team playoff to claim the championship of the 1999 Chris Schenkel Invitational at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, GA.

The victory was Clemson’s fifth tournament title in eight events for the Tigers, who did nothing to hurt their consensus number-one ranking. The fifth victory of the year tied the Clemson record for tournament championships in a season. Clemson also won five tournaments in 1986-87 and in 1987-88. The 15-team field included seven of the top 20 teams in the nation.

Clemson shot a 291 on Sunday and had an 869 total for the 54 holes, the same score as Georgia, who had a 296 in the final round. Both teams counted four pars on the first extra hole, then Clemson won the event on the second extra hole.

South Carolina finished third, while Florida was fourth, Duke and TCU were tied for fifth and Augusta State was seventh. East Tennessee State ranked eighth, while Georgia Tech was ninth. Georgia Tech, ranked third in the nation, has not beaten Clemson this year.

Jonathan Byrd led the Tigers with a 69 in the final round and a fourth-place overall ranking. It was his sixth top 10 finish in eight events and his final round 69 was his ninth round in the 60s this year.

Michael Hoey and Lucas Glover shot final round scores of 73 and both finished in the top 20 overall for the event. Hoey, a freshman from Ireland, finished 13th at the event with his 219 54-hole score, while Glover, a native of Greenville, and Wade Hampton High School, had a 221 score to rank 19th.

John Engler had a 76 on Sunday and finished 15th for the event with a 220 score. Jani Saari, playing in his first career tournament, shot a 79 in the final round for a 224 score and was 34th. Saari’s 73 and 72 in the first two rounds counted toward Clemson’s team score.

It marked the second time that Clemson has won the Schenkel. Clemson won the event in 1988 with an 854 team score, then finished second in 1989 with an 853. Clemson played in the event every year between 1980-89, then the tournament was disbanded until last year. Clemson was also the runnerup in 1986.

Clemson’s Lineup for the Chris Schenkel

Clemson Scores at 1999 Schenkel

Trahan Wins Las Vegas Intercollegiate Freshman D.J. Trahan (Inman, SC, Dorman HS) fired a final round 66, then won a three-hole playoff against Matt Brost of Texas to win medalist honors at the prestigious Las Vegas Intercollegiate March 10-12. The event was held at the Desert Inn Country Club in Las Vegas, the same course that plays host to a PGA event.

Clemson finished sixth as a team, but the Tigers were just two shots from the winning score. It was one of the closest team races in Clemson golf history. Arizona State won the event in a playoff with Oklahoma State and Minnesota. All three teams shot 848 for the event. Texas and Georgia Tech tied for fourth at 849, just a shot back. Clemson was sixth at 850. Defending NCAA Champion Georgia was seventh at 860. Houston and host school UNLV were eight at 868, while New Mexico and North Carolina were 10th at 869. Florida was 12th at 874, Virginia 13th at 876 and South Carolina last at 883.

Trahan won the tournament against a field that included 10 of the top 20 teams in the nation and 10 of the top 25 individuals in the nation. The field included former US Amateur Champion Matt Kuchar, reigning US Amateur Champion David Gossett of Texas, 1998 NCAA Champion James McLean of Minnesota and Bryce Molder of Georgia Tech, the current number-one ranked player in the nation.

Trahan won the event with a 207 score for the 54 holes. He tied the Clemson record for lowest tournament score by a freshman and for best score versus par by a freshman. His nine-under par tied the freshman record also held by Chris Patton, who shot a -9 at the Gamecock Invitational in 1997.

Trahan, a native of Inman, SC and Dorman High School, is now 10-under par for the season and has been under par in four of his five tournaments. He finished eighth at the San Juan Shootout in the first event of the Spring. He had rounds of 73-68-66 for this past weekend. The 66 was a season best lowest competitive round by a Clemson freshman since Charles Warren shot a 66 at the Wofford Invitational in 1995. He was just the third freshman in Clemson history to shoot a 66 or better. The 66 was the low round of the entire tournament by any individual.

Clemson shot a 277 score as a team on Sunday, its second best team round of the year and the best score of the day by four strokes. The Tigers trailed by 16 strokes entering the final day and came within two shots of the title.

Helping Trahan was junior Jonathan Byrd shot a 70, giving John Engler had a 74 and Ben Duncan shot a 76 to round out Clemson’s five players.

Byrd finished with a 211 score for the event, a seventh place finish, the 23rd top 10 finish of his Clemson career. Glover and Engler finished 35th with 219 scores, while Ben Duncan finished 67th with a 228 score. Glover, a native of Greenville, struggled in the first two rounds with scores of 77-75 before he caught fire on Sunday.

Clemson will next be in action at the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, GA March 25-26.

Clemson at the Las Vegas Intercollegiate

Trahan Top Tiger in Puerto Rico Freshman D.J. Trahan fired a two-under-par 70 in the final round to lead Clemson to a fourth-place finish at the San Juan Shootout at the Rio Mar Country Club in San Juan, Puerto Rico February 27-29. Georgia Tech won the event with an 853 team score, 11-under-par, while Clemson was fourth, eight strokes back.

Northwestern was second with an 857 score, while NC State was third at 859. After Clemson’s fourth place score of 861, Georgia, the defending NCAA champion was fifth at 866.

Trahan had rounds of 68-76-70 in finishing in eighth place with a 214 score. He was seven shots behind individual champion Luke Donald of Northwestern, who had a three-stroke victory with a 207 total.

It was the second top 10 finish of the year for Trahan, who finished sixth with a 214 score at the Golfweek Preview back in September. Among the players Trahan was tied with was Georgia Tech All-American Bryce Molder. Molder was the individual leader after 36 holes, but shot a 77 on the final round.

Lucas Glover, a pair of junior All-Americans for Larry Penley’s team, had a 216 score for he event, even par. Both shot 72 on the final round and finished in a tie for 15th place.

Clemson All-American Jonathan Byrd struggled on Tuesday, shooting a 78. It was his first round of the year over 74 when playing for the Tigers and his worst round in 17 regular season tournaments dating back to 1998. Still, he shot a 218 for the tournament, just two over par and he finished tied for 18th.

Junior Jani Saari fired a 224 score for the 54-hole event, including a 76 on Tuesday. Despite a 50th place finish, Saari’s score counted two of the three days.

Four Tigers under 72 average for the year Clemson’s top four golfers all have stroke averages under 72.0 for the academic year. Lucas Glover leads the way with a 70.86 for the year, including a 70.20 for the fall season. Freshman D.J. Trahan has a 71.33 stroke average for the year, second best on the team. That includes an incredible 70.17 for the two tournaments in the spring. He has been Clemson’s low scorer in each of the first two spring events, and now has three top 10 finishes for the year, including the medalist honors at the Las Vegas Intercollegiate.

Jonathan Byrd, a first-team All-American last year, has a 71.81 stroke average, a figure that would be his career best for a season, but it is only fourth best on this year’s team.

Byrd Ranked 2nd in World Amateur Rankings Two Clemson golfers are ranked among the top 20 amateurs in the world based on ratings released in Golfweek through events of March 6, 2000. Jonathan Byrd is ranked second with 200 points, while Lucas Glover is 18th with 95. Glover just completed a terrific fall season and has jumped ahead of Matt Kuchar in the rankings. Byrd trails only Hunder Huss of Norman, OK and the University of Oklahoma. Edward Loar is ranked third, while David Edger, Charles Howell and Aron Baddeley (Australia) are all tied for fourth.

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 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 72.31 average. He posted a 71.39 figure for the fall of 1999 in has a 71.67 stroke average for this academic year over 24 rounds.

Glover, now ranked second nationally, made the biggest jump, on the career list this year. His 70.86 average for 21 rounds this year had a lot to do with that. Glover now has a 72.34 stroke average for his 92 career rounds. Jonathan Byrd, the only senior on the Clemson team in 2000, has a 72.61 average after firing a 71.81 average this year. Fourth on the list is Chris Patton, who had a 72.71 average between 1986-90. Last week he won a Tear Drop Tour event in Florida.

Clemson Career Stroke Average Leaders (Minimum 45 rounds Played)

Clemson Number-three in MasterCard Poll Clemson was ranked number-three in the March 6 Mastercard poll, just behind ACC rival Georgia Tech and Northwestern. Clemson concluded a strong fall schedule with a first at the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate and second place finishes at the Ping/Golfweek Preview and the Carpet Capital Classic. The Tigers were fourth at the San Juan Shootout, and Georgia Tech won the event and thus moved into first in the poll. Clemson was sixth at the Las Vegas Intercollegiate, but just two strokes the from the championship score.

Clemson has four of the top 40 golfers in the nation according to the latest Mastercard rnakings. Lucas Glover leads the way at number-three in the nation. D.J. Trahan was 32nd heading into the Las Vegas Intercollegiate, so his ranking should skyrocket after his victory.

Mastcard Golf Rankings

(March 8, 2000)  1.  Georgia Tech  2.  Northwestern  3.  Clemson  4.  Arizona State  5.  Georgia  6.  Oklahoma State  7.  Brigham Young  8.  Fresno State  9.  UNLV 10.  Kent 11.  Stanford 12.  Houston 13.  Arizona 14.  South Carolina 15.  North Florida 16.  Southern California 17.  Florida 18.  New Mexico 19.  Augusta State 20.  UCLA

Men’s Individual Rankings – March 8, 2000

Rank Player         Year School              Points  1  Luke Donald     JR  Northwestern        225.900  2  Matt Kuchar     SR  Georgia Tech        205.058  3  Lucas Glover    JR  Clemson University  204.550  4  Bryce Molder    JR  Georgia Tech        197.725  5  Jess Daley      SR  Northwestern        176.139  6  Martin Maritz   SR  Tulsa, U. of        154.235  7  Ben Curtis      SR  Kent                152.200  8  Nick Cassini    JR  Georgia, U. of      152.129  9  Jeremy Anderson SR  UNLV                146.032 10  Charles Howell  JR  Oklahoma State U.   142.330 11  Paul Casey      JR  Arizona State U.    137.850 12  John Engler     JR  Clemson University  137.818 13  Alex Rocha      SR  Mississippi St. U.  121.900 14  Andy Miller     SR  Brigham Young Univ. 113.340 15  Aaron Pellegrom SR  Baylor University   111.821 32  D.J. Trahan     FR  Clemson              80.650 40  Jonathan Byrd   SR  Clemson              69.304

Clemson’s Byrd Named to Walker Cup Team Clemson All-America golfer Jonathan Byrd named to the United States Walker Cup team for 1999. He posted a 1-3 record for the United States team during the competition that took place at Nairn Golf Club in Nairn, Scotland. Byrd was the third Clemson golfer in history to compete in the Walker Cup. The others are Kevin Johnson (1990) and Richard Coughlan, who played on the Great Britain/Ireland team in 1997.

The selection was part of an active off-college season for Byrd. He was on Northeast Amateur and the Carolinas Amateur and finished runnerup at the Porter Cup. He was second at the South Carolina Amateur, reached the match play portion of the US Amateur and led the United States to victory in the Palmer Cup.

Tigers in Final Individual Rankings Three of Clemson players ranked in the top 20 of the Mastercard and Sagarin individual rankings for the 1998-99 academic year. All three return for this year. Jonathan Byrd was a consensus top 10 player according to Mastercard, Sagarin and Golfstat. John Engler made the top 10 in Mastercard and Sagarin and was 14th in Golfstat. Jani Saari, who finished 77th in Sagarin, and Michael Hoey, 53rd in Mastercard, were also top 100 college players in 1998-99.

Clemson in Final 1998-99 College Golf Rankings

Byrd Named Academic All-American 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.