Four Tigers Begin US Open on Thursday

June 15, 2009

Clemson, SC – For the first time ever, four current or former Clemson golfers will begin play in a PGA Major Tournament when the United States Open begins at Bethpage Black Municipal Course in New York on Thursday morning. Former Clemson All-Americans Lucas Glover, D.J. Trahan and Kyle Stanley, and current All-ACC player Ben Martin, will all begin play on Thursday.

Glover, Stanley and Trahan will be in the same group, the first time three former Clemson golfers have been paired together in a PGA Tour event. The United States Golf Association also paired three Oklahoma State players for the first two rounds.

Glover, Stanley and Trahan will begin at the first hole at 1:03 PM on Thursday. The same group will start Friday morning at 7:33 AM from the 10th tee. Martin will start at 9:01 AM on Thursday at the 10th hole. He will be paired with Josh McCumber and Kevin Silva. Martin’s group will begin from number-one at 2:31 PM on Friday.

Martin and Stanley are two of the 13 amateurs in the 156-player field. Clemson is the only school with two amateurs in the field. With four players with ties to Clemson, the Tigers are tied for first for most representatives from the same school. Clemson, Florida, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Arizona and Arizona State all have four representatives at this year’s US Open.

The ACC has 19 players in the field, the most among all conferences. The Pac 10 is second with 15, while the SEC has 12 and the Big 12 has 11 representatives apiece. Ten of the 12 ACC schools have at least one player in the United States Open this year.

Martin, who will be the senior leader of next year’s Clemson team, went through local and sectional qualifying to earn his spot, one of 25 players to accomplish that feat. He was a first-team All-ACC performer this year for the Tigers and was second on the team in stroke average. He finished 12th on Sunday at the Sunnehanna Amateur in New York as a warm up for the US Open.

Stanley was co-medalist at his qualifier in Columbus, OH on June 8, just a week after finishing second at the NCAA Tournament. The first-team All-American is turning professional after the US Open. He will play his first pro tournament the next week at the Travelers in Cromwell, CT. Stanley finished his career second on Clemson’s career stroke average list (behind Trahan) and won the 2009 Ben Hogan Award.

Glover and Trahan are both veterans on the PGA Tour. Glover is 32nd on the money list so far this year, while Trahan is 68th. Glover qualified for the US Open by shooting a 133 score at the qualifier in Columbus, the same event that Stanley won last Monday. Trahan qualified by virtue of his fourth place finish at the 2008 United States Open.

Amateurs at 2009 United States Open Tyson Alexander – Florida Josh Brock – UNC-Wilmington Bronson Burgoon – Texas A&M Rickie Fowler – Oklahoma State Shintaro Kai – Japan Scott Lewis – UC-Santa BarbaraBen Martin – Clemson Matt Nagy – Kennesaw State Vaughn Snyder – Ohio StateKyle Stanley – Clemson Nick Taylor – Washington Cameron Tringale – Georgia Tech Drew Weaver – Virginia Tech

Schools with Most Representatives at 2009 United States OpenFlorida – 4 (Brian Gay, Josh McCumber, Camilo Villegas, Tyson Alexander)Clemson – 4 (Lucas Glover, D.J. Trahan)Oklahoma State – 4 (Rickie Fowler, Casey Wittenberg, Bo Van Pelt, Hunter Mahan)Georgia Tech – 4 (Cameron Tringale, Matt Kuchar, David Duval, Stewart Cink)Arizona – 4 (Rory Sabbatini, Jim Furyk, Nathan Tyler, Ricky Barnes)Arizona State – 4 (Paul Casey, Billy Mayfair, Matt Jones, Phil Mickelson)