Clemson Ranked #1 in Sagarin, Golf World Polls |
Clemson, SC-Clemson remained number-one in the nation in the latest
Sagarin College Golf Poll released Friday. The Tigers have won each of their first two tournament this year, The Topy Cup in Japan when Clemson had a school record tying 34-under-par score, and the Carpet Classic in Dalton, GA September 27-29. Clemson starts play in its third tournament on Monday in the Ping Preview in Stillwater, OK. Clemson holds the number-one ranking ahead of Florida in the Sagarin poll. The Tigers have a 69.14 rating, followed by Florida's 70.19. UCLA is ranked third with a 70.25 figure. Wake Forest is the next highest ACC team with a 70.89 figure, good enough for 11th. North Carolina is the only other ACC school in the top 15 with a 71.11. Clemson is also number-one ranked in the Golf World preseason poll and is number-two in the Precept Golf Coaches Association Preseason poll. It is interesting to note that Clemson received more first-place votes than Georgia Tech in the Golf Coaches Association poll, yet is ranked second.
Sagarin College Golf Poll
Clemson Travels to Preview
Clemson, SC-Clemson's number-one ranked golf team will travel to
Stillwater, OK this weekend and will compete in the Ping Preview at
Karsten Creek, the home of the Oklahoma State golf program. A
practice round will be held Sunday with 36 holes of competition on
Monday, followed by 18 holes on Tuesday.
Clemson is the defending champion in the event, that is
played each year on the site of the next spring's NCAA Tournament.
The 2003 NCAA Tournament will be held May 28-31 at the Par 72
Karsten Creek Course.
This will be the 13th straight year Clemson has competed in
this event. Clemson won at The Scarlet Course in Columbus, OH last
year with a +10 team total of 862. Clemson followed that up with a
third-place finish at the NCAA national tournament in the spring.
Clemson also won the Preview in the fall of 1990 at Pebble Peach.
Overall, Clemson has two first-place finishes at the Preview, two
seconds and two thirds. The Tigers have been in the top five in
seven of their 12 previous appearances.
A year ago D.J. Trahan rolled in a birdie putt on the last
hole in the last group to give Clemson the team title. Trahan
finished second individually. He will return to lead the Tigers in
the Preview again this year. The reigning Jack Nicklaus Award winner
has a team best 70.0 stroke average for two tournaments this year and
his 71.56 average for his 36-tournament career is best in Clemson
history.
The Tigers have played in two events and won both so far
this year, the first time in history Clemson has won its first two
tournaments of the year. The victory at the Carpet Classic was the
50th of Head Coach Larry Penley's career. Clemson made up a 12-shot
deficit in the final round to gain victory.
Penley will not change his lineup for the Preview. Joining Trahan
will be Gregg Jones, a second-team All-American in 2001-02, senior
Ben Duncan, junior Matt Hendrix and sophomore Jack Ferguson.
Duncan is off to his best start as a Tiger. He finished 13th
at the Topy Cup in Japan, then had a team best fifth-place finish at
the Carpet Capital Classic in Dalton, GA. That was his first top 10
finish at Clemson and his average finish of ninth place for the first
two events is best on the team.
Ferguson was Clemson's top golfer in the season opener in
Japan where he scored a 204 to finish third individually, but he was
first among American collegiate players in the field. Hendrix had a
207 in Japan, including a career best 65 in the first round.
Clemson has won its first two tournaments with a team stroke
average of 70.0, a record rate. All five golfers are under par for
the year and all five have exactly one top 10 finish. Eighteen of
the 30 individual rounds have been under par.
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