Stanley Opens Play in US Open on Thursday


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Clemson, SC-Current Clemson golfer Kyle Stanley will open play in the United States Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA on Thursday at 10:11 AM eastern time. Stanley will be joined in the field by former Tigers Jonathan Byrd and D.J. Trahan.

This is the first time three current or former Clemson golfers will be in the same US Open field and it is just the second time that three golfers with ties to Clemson have participated in the same major. Lucas Glover, Jonathan Byrd and Charles Warren all played in the 2006 PGA.

Stanley will play with Casey Wittenberg and Hunter Haas, two players currently on the Nationwide Tour. The group will start at 10:11 AM on the first tee on Thursday and at 3:41 PM eastern time from the 10th tee on Friday. Stanley's group will be the second group of the day off the first tee. They will play five groups ahead of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Byrd is paired with PGA players Brandt Snedeker and Nick Dougherty and will start from the first tee at 4:58 PM eastern time on Thursday and 11:28 AM eastern time on Friday. Trahan is paired with PGA Tour players Bart Bryant and Chad Campbell with 3:52 PM eastern time start from the 10th tee on Thursday. The group will start at 10:22 AM on Friday from the first tee.

Stanley is the first active Clemson golfer to play in the United States Open since 1990 when Chris Patton played in the US Open after winning the 1989 United States Amateur. This will not be Stanley's first professional golf event. He played in last year's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill after winning the 2006 Southern Amateur. He shot rounds of 75-74 at that event and missed the cut.

Stanley qualified for the 2008 United States Open by shooting a 36-hole score of 137 on two courses in Columbus, OH on June 2. That was just two days after he finished seventh at the 2008 NCAA Championships with a 296 score. He led the Tigers to a number-five NCAA team finish, Clemson's best NCAA team finish since winning the championship in 2003.

This will be Byrd's third United States Open. He played in the 2003 event at Olympia Fields in Illinois and finished 15th with a 282 score. That is the best finish by a current or former Clemson golfer at a United States Open and his +2 score vs. par is the best ever by a Clemson golfer at the United States Open. The former All-American and Academic All-American at Clemson from 1996-2000 missed the cut at Shinnecock in New York the next year.

So far this year, Byrd has made the cut in 11 of 16 PGA events, including a fourth place finish at the AT+T Classic in Atlanta. He is currently 58th on the PGA Tour money list with $882,959. Byrd was an automatic qualifier for the US Open this year by virtue of his top 30 finish on the PGA Tour money list in 2007.

This will be Trahan's second United States Open. The former Clemson All-American who led the Tigers to the 2003 NCAA Championships, played in the 2006 US Open at Mamaronek, NY and missed the cut after shooting a 156 for 36 holes.

Trahan has made the cut in 12 of 16 PGA Tour events this year. He won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in January a is currently 33rd on the PGA Tour Money list with $1,248,280. He is 25th on the FedEx Cup Points list.

Despite winning on the PGA Tour this year, Trahan had to go through sectional qualifying to get into this year's US Open field. He won a playoff against current Clemson golfer Ben Martin for the last spot from the Roswell, GA site last week when he made a birdie on the third playoff hole.

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