Men’s Golf Preps For Carpet Capital Classic

Sept. 28, 1999

Tigers Travel to Carpet Capital Classic Fresh off a strong second-place finish at the Ping/Golfweek Preview September 19-21, the number-one ranked Clemson golf team goes back on the road this weekend to participate in the Carpet Capital Classic on Dalton, GA.

It will be the third tournament of the year for Larry Penley’s Tigers and he will be starting his third different lineup. Brennan King, a junior from Aiken, SC, will make his first appearance of the year and his second as a Clemson Tiger. He will be the ninth different Clemson player to play within the first three tournaments.

Clemson will bring three returning All-Americans to The Farm, Jonathan Byrd, Lucas Glover and John Engler. First-year freshman D.J. Trahan, who finished sixth in his first career tournament last week at The Preview, will also be in the lineup.

Clemson will be playing at the site of its most disappointing regular season performance of 1998-99. The Tigers finished just ninth out of 18 teams, and shot an 18-over-par team score, its worst performance of the regular season.

Clemson has played well at the Farm over the years, however. In fact, Clemson has won three Carpet Capital Classics in the decade of the 1990s. Clemson won in 1993, 1996 and 1998. In winning the event just two years ago, the Tigers shot an 855 team score, nine-under-par.

Clemson Lineup for Carpet Capital Classic

Jonathan Byrd    Senior      Columbia, SC,        72.67Lucas Glover     Junior      Greenville, SC,      71.83John Engler      Junior      Augusta, GA,         72.33D.J. Trahan      Freshman    Inman, SC,           71.33Brennan King     Junior      Aiken, SC,           1st start

Three Veterans Have Played in Two Carpet Classics Three members of the 1999 Clemson lineup will make their third appearances at The Farm. Jonathan Byrd, Lucas Glover and John Engler have all played in two previous Carpet Classics. They have contributed to a Clemson championship at the event, and also seen their team finish ninth.

Glover has had the highs and the lows. In the 1998 event as a sophomore he tied for medalist honors with a 212 score, four-under par. He tied with Bryce Molder at the event and defeated among others, Matt Kuchar. The next week, Kuchar finished in the top 20 at The Masters. In 1999, Glover finished 55th with a 226 score.

Byrd is even par for his six rounds at The Farm. He finished fourth with a 214 score in 1998, then was 19th with a 218 score last year. He was tied for Clemson’s top finisher last year. Engler also shot a 218 last year at The Farm and had a 220 in Clemson’s team victory as a freshman.

Clemson Ranked Number-One Clemson is ranked first in the nation in two college golf polls. The Tigers hold the number-one spot in the Mastercard poll, which is conducted by the GCAA, while Golfweek and its editor Ron Balicki, has voted Clemson to the top spot in the preseason.

Three Clemson individuals were ranked in the top 20 of the preseason poll according to Mastercard. Jonathan Byrd is ranked second in the nation, trailing only Luke Donald of Northwestern. John Engler is listed as the eighth best player in the country, while Lucas Glover is ranked 16th.

Mastercard Top 10 1. Clemson, 2. UNLV, 3. Oklahoma State, 4. Georgia, 5. Arizona State, 6. Georgia Tech, 7. Houston, 8. Florida, 9. Northwestern, 10. South Carolina.

Golfweek Top 10 1. Clemson, 2. Arizona State, 3. Oklahoma State, 4. UNLV, 5. Georgia Tech, 6. Georgia, 7. BYU, 8. Houston, 9. South Carolina, 10. Texas.

Clemson Finishes Second at Ping-Golfweek PreviewSeptember 21, 1999

AUBURN, Ala. – 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. The event is considered the top college golf event of the fall season.

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, his best round of the year, 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 played 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. His opening round 68 was the lowest by a Clemson golfer in his first round as a Tiger since the 1987 Southwestern Intercollegiate when Sam Olson shot a 68.

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 Finishes 6th at The RidgesSeptember 12, 1999

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – John Engler shot a four-over-par 220 to lead Clemson to a sixth-place team finish of the Ridges Intercollegiate at Johnson City, TN. Clemson shot a 298 in the final round and concluded the event with an 890 team score.

The Tigers were playing without senior All-American and number-one player Jonathan Byrd, who was playing in for the United States in the Walker Cup in Scotland.

Michael Hoey was a sixth Clemson player taking part in the tournament, but his score did not count towards Clemson’s team total. His 222 score for the event was good enough for 23rd. He provided a highlight of the tournament by making the first hole-in-one in the history of Clemson golf. In the second round on Saturday he scored an ace with a three-iron from 192 yards out on the 16th hole.

Engler was the Tiger leader with his 220 score, good enough for 11th place. He had rounds of 75-71-74. His 71 in the second round was the only under-par round by a Tiger for the tournament.

Lucas Glover also had a top 20 finish. The native of Greenville fired a 221 score for the 54-hole event off consistent rounds of 74-73-74 and finished 16th. Ben Duncan was the third best Tiger golfer with a 224 score off rounds of 73-75-76. He finished in a tie for 31st.

Jani Saari, also of Greenville, shot a 74 on Sunday, his best round of the tournament, and finished with a 226, good enough for 42nd. Ben Johnson, playing in his first career event for the Tigers, had a 76 on Sunday and finished at 230.

Oklahoma won the team competition with an 870 score for the 54 holes. Arizona was second with an 875, while Virginia was third at 879. South Carolina was fourth at 885, while North Carolina was fifth at 888. Clemson finished in a tie with Auburn at 890.

The individual champion was Max Harris of North Carolina, who fired a 211 score for the three rounds, including a 71 on Sunday. He was the only player in the tournament under par for all three of his rounds.

Byrd Named Academic All-AmericanCLEMSON, SC – Clemson golfer Jonathan Byrd was chosen as a first-team Academic All-American by two services during his junior year. First, Byrd was honored by the Golf Coaches Association of America, and on Tuesday he was named to the GTE Spring Sports CoSIDA Academic All-America team. The GTE team honors 15 student-athletes in the sports of golf, track & Field, tennis, volleyball and Lacrosse.

Byrd was one of just three golfers named to the first-team GTE squad. The others were Jamie Broce of Ball State and Dave Emanuelson of Northern Illinois. Byrd was named first-team All-American for his performance on the course last week by the Coaches Association, and is the only collegiate golfer to make the GTE first-team for his work in the class room and the Coaches Association team for his play 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.

Byrd led Clemson in stroke average in 1998-99 with a 72.10 figure, the fourth best single season mark in Clemson history. He is currently fourth on the Clemson career list as well with a 72.75 average. This season he had seven top 10 finishes and now has 20 for his career. He finished 16th at the NCAA tournament, helping the Tigers to an eighth-place team finish.

The junior has a 3.6 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. Larry Penley’s team had a 3.2 team GPA for the spring, highest semester average on record.

Byrd is the third Clemson student-athlete to be selected to a GTE Academic All-America team this year. Will York (men’s swimming) and Jennifer Mihalik (women’s swimming), were honored on the winter sports team.

Byrd Member of Walker Cup Team

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson All-America golfer Jonathan Byrd was a member of the United States Walker Cup team this past September. Byrd had a 1-2 record competing for the United States team at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland, September 11-12. He won his singles match 6 and 5 over David Patrick, the largest margin of victory by any United States golfer in the event.

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.

This past summer, Byrd was outstanding. He was 4-0 in match play competition for the United States against Great Britain/Ireland in the Palmer Cup, and also won the Northeast Amateur. He was the runnerup in the Porter Cup in July, and was also third in the Southern Amateur. He reached the final 64 of the US Amateur at Pebble Beach and finished second to teammate Lucas Glover at the South Carolina Amateur.