Proveaux Wins South Carolina Amateur

SPARTANBURG, SC – Cody Proveaux, who will begin classes at Clemson in two weeks, won the South Carolina Amateur Golf Championship in near record fashion on Sunday. Proveaux shot a two under par 68 in the final round to finish with a 72-hole score of 267.  His gross score was the second best ever in the 81-year history of the event.

The only 72-hole score lower was turned in by former Clemson All-American Lucas Glover, who had a 266 at the 1998 South Carolina Amateur on the par 70 Heathland Course at the Legends in Myrtle Beach.  Glover also holds the record for strokes under par with 15 at the 1999 event.

Proveaux had rounds of 69-65-65-68 in winning the event by three shots over Caleb Sturgeon of Laurens, SC and a member of the University of South Carolina team.  Crawford Reeves, who will be a senior on the Clemson team this year, had a final round 64 to finish at 271, four shots in back of Proveaux and good enough for third place.   Reeves had two rounds of 64, yet did not win the tournament.  Proveaux and Reeves each had the low round of the day twice and shared the lead after 36 holes.

Clemson red-shirt freshman Stephen Behr, Jr, was 13^th with a 281 total, while former Tiger Jacob Burger was 25^th with a 285 score.  Clemson Associate Head Coach Jordan Byrd and incoming freshman Blake Kennedy tied for 39^th with scores of 288.

Proveaux, a native of Leesville, SC, attended Pelion, High School where he made the varsity golf team as a seventh grader and was a teammate of Clemson All-ACC football player Dalton Freeman.   Proveaux is the first golfer to win the South Carolina Amateur before entering college since 1992 when Tommy Biershenk, currently on the PGA Tour, won the South Carolina Amateur just prior to enrolling at Clemson.

Proveaux entered Sunday’s final round with a four shot lead over Sturgeon.  Sturgeon cut the lead to three shots with a birdie on the 11^th hole, then hit a tee shot on the par three 14^th hole to within 10 feet.   Proveaux responded however with a tee shot to within four feet.  Sturgeon missed his birdie putt and Proveaux made his to move the lead back to four.

Proveaux then made birdie on the long par four 15^th hole when he chipped in from just off the green.  That made the margin five shots with three holes to play.

“The birdies on the 14^th and 15^th holes were big,” said Proveaux, who was the National Junior Player of the Year in 2011.  “I wish I had made a couple of those putts on the last three holes, but it feels great to win this tournament.

“This is something I have been looking forward to all summer.  To win this tournament with the names on this trophy is just great.   A lot of the former champions are on the PGA Tour.

Proveaux is the first golfer with ties to Clemson to win the South Carolina Amateur since 2007 when Luke Hopkins won.  Overall, a golfer with ties to Clemson has now won the South Carolina Amateur 14 times since 1975, including current PGA Tour players Tommy Biershenk, Charles Warren, Lucas Glover and D.J. Trahan.  Jonathan Byrd never won the event, but finished second to Glover three times.  Warren, Glover and Trahan combined to win the tournament six consecutive years from 1997-02.

Past Clemson Golfers to Win South Carolina Amateur1975 – Parker Moore1982 – Dillard Pruitt1987 – Larry Penley1988 – Larry Penley1992 – Tommy Biershenk1994 – Mark Swygert1997 – Charles Warrant1998 – Lucas Glover1999 – Lucas Glover2000 – Lucas Glover2001 – D.J. Trahan2002 – D.J. Trahan2007 – Luke Hopkins2012 – Cody Proveaux