Clemson Golf Chosen for NCAA East Regional |
Clemson, SC-The Clemson men's golf team has been chosen for the NCAA
tournament for the 21st consecutive year. Larry Penley's Tigers will play at the NCAA East Regional May 16-18 at the Ansley Golf Club's Settin' Down Creek in Roswell, GA. Clemson will attempt to finish in the top 10 of that event, and thereby qualify for the NCAA Championships to be played at the Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University May 29 to June 1. The Tigers were one of eight ACC teams to earn bids to the regional tournament. Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia will all join Clemson at the East Regional, while NC State and Maryland will play in the Central Regional in Little Rock, AR. Leading the Tigers into the tournament will be junior D.J. Trahan. The native of Inman, SC will receive the Ben Hogan Award as the top college golfer in the nation on Monday, May 13 in Fort Worth, TX. He will then start play in the NCAA regional on Thursday. Trahan, who has a Clemson record tying eight top 10 finishes this year, has a 70.36 stroke average and is ranked third in the nation in the latest Golfstat ranking and is third in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Sophomore Gregg Jones is right behind Trahan with a 71.80 stroke average. Jones is ranked 14th in the nation in the latest Sagarin rankings. Clemson has qualified for the national portion of the NCAA men's golf tournament 20 consecutive years, including 18 under Penley. Clemson's current streak of appearances in the national portion of the event is second to Oklahoma State's streak of 56 straight years. Clemson has played at the national portion of the tournament every year Penley has been the head coach (since 1983-84 academic year). The streak actually began two years prior to Penley's appointment. Current Clemson Athletic Director Bobby Robinson coached the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in 1980, 1982 and 1983. The appearance in 1980 was Clemson's first at the NCAA Tournament as a team. Clemson won its first ACC Tournament title in 1982, then had its first top five national finish in 1983, all under Robinson. Clemson's streak of 21 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is the longest in Clemson athletic history, regardless of sport. Clemson has come out of the regional all 12 years the NCAA has had that format, including four years in which it was regional champion (1993-94-95 and 2000). Only Arizona and Arizona State have more won more regionals with five. Clemson has five straight top 10 finishes at the NCAA golf tournament. This is the first time Clemson has had five straight top 10s in golf and the first Clemson sports program to do it since the 1973-79 era when the men's soccer program had seven straight top 10s under Dr. I.M. Ibraham. The Tigers finished in the top 15 of the NCAA National Tournament in nine of the 10 years in the decade of the 1990s. That includes 1997 and 1998 when Clemson finished third and second, respectively. Clemson was the only school in the country to finish among the top three teams in the country each of those seasons. The only year in the 1990s that Clemson failed to make the cut was in 1995 at Ohio State. Clemson has finished in the top 20 of the national event 14 of the last 15 years, including seven top 10 finishes in the last nine years. Clemson was fourth in 1993 and ninth in 1994. Overall, Clemson has had 18 top 20 finishes in its history. The Tigers finished second at the NCAAs played at Duke last year. Clemson's NCAA Tournament History National Appearances: 22nd in 2002 (all since 1980) Consecutive Nat. Appearances: 20 (2nd longest active streak behind Oklahoma State) 2001 Finish: 2nd at Durham, NC Top Finish: 2nd at the University Course, Albuquerque, NM (1998) 2nd at Duke University Course, Durham, NC (2001) Top Five Finishes: 6 (1983, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001) Top 10 Finishes: 9 (including 5 in a row) Top 20 Finishes: 18 (14 of last 16 years and 6 in a row) Top Individual Finishes: 1st by Charles Warren at Conway Farms, 1997 2nd by Charles Warren at Albuquerque, NM,1998 3rd by Thump Delk in 1993 at Lexington, KY 3rd by Mark Swygert in 1994 at McKinney, TX Top Individual Score: 272 (-16) by Charles Warren, 1998 at Albuquerque, NM Low Round, NCAA Play: 65 (-7), 3rd round, Mark Swygert, 1994 at McKinney, TX
Clemson's NCAA National Tournament History
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