Tigers Return to the Course in Puerto Rico

Feb. 19, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – Larry Penley’s Clemson golf team will return to competition Sunday at the Puerto Rico Classic at Rio Mar Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Clemson will be one of 15 teams in the national event that will play 54 holes this coming Sunday through Tuesday (Feb. 21-23).

Joining Clemson at the event will be fellow ACC schools Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. Also participating will be Alabama, East Tennessee State, Georgia, Kent State, Michigan, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Purdue, Texas and UNC Greensboro.

Clemson is coming off a third-place finish at the Jacksonville Invitational at the TPC Sawgrass Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. Three Tigers finished in the top 10 at that event and all three will be in Clemson’s lineup in Puerto Rico.

Leading the way is graduate Ben Martin, who finished third at Jacksonville and has two top 10 finishes in four events this year. Martin has the top stroke average on the team so far this year at 74.18. Freshman Corbin Mills had a fifth-place finish at Jacksonville and his 75.38 stroke average is fourth best on the team this year. Freshman Crawford Reeves had his first career top 10 at Jacksonville with an eighth-place finish. He has a 76.27 stroke average in four events so far this year.

Luke Hopkins is a senior who has played in four tournaments this year. He finished 24th at Jacksonville with a 232 score. His best performance was a 10th place finish at The Brickyard last fall.

Rounding out the lineup for the Tigers if sophomore Jacob Burger, who will play his first tournament of the spring. He had a 15th place finish at The Brickyard last fall and has a 74.88 average this year, third best on the team.

This is the 18th consecutive year Clemson has played in the Puerto Rico Classic. Clemson’s best finish was a first-place in 1999 when the Tigers had an 830 total. John Engler led Clemson to that title by winning medalist honors with a 205 score, including a 65 in the final round.

Clemson finished second at the Puerto Rico Classic last year in one of its best performances of the year. Ben Martin led the way with a third-place finish off a 206 score. David May was sixth and Kyle Stanley was ninth. Martin is the only member of the 2009 team who will be in the field for the Tigers this year.