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March 28, 2007
Clemson, SC -- Clemson's sixth-ranked men's golf team will be back in action for the first time in 19 days when the Tigers start action Friday at the Administaff Augusta State Invitational in Augusta, GA. The Tigers are one of 18 teams who will compete for the title on the par 72 Champions Retreat Course that is 7,265 yards in length.
The 18 teams will play 18 holes per day Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1. Results will be updated live on golfstat.com.
Clemson will bring three freshmen and two sophomores to Augusta, the youngest lineup of the year for Larry Penley's Tigers. Kyle Stanley will be back in the lineup after sitting out the Las Vegas Invitational while preparing for the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour. Stanley failed to make the cut with rounds of 75-74, but his second round score was just one stroke worse than the round Tiger Woods shot that day.
Stanley, ranked in the top 10 in the nation on the Sagarin individual college rankings this year, has a 71.00 stroke average for his 15 rounds and has nine rounds at par or better. He has finished in the top 18 in every tournament he has played, including a victory at the Purdue Aloha Classic in Hawaii in November.
Sam Saunders, like Stanley a first year freshman, also will be in the Clemson lineup this weekend. Saunders has a 72.92 stroke average for the season in four events. He has shot a 75 or better in 10 of his 12 rounds so far this year and already has a pair of top 10 finishes. He is ranked 42nd in the latest Sagarin rankings.
Ben Martin is a third freshman in the Clemson lineup. The native of Greenwood, SC has a 72.93 stroke average in five events this year. He tied for Clemson honors with a 221 total at the Las Vegas Invitational three weeks ago.
Sophomores Phillip Mollica and David May round out the Clemson lineup this weekend. Mollica has a 74.25 stroke average for four events this year, including a career best 18th place finish in his last event in Las Vegas when he had a 221 score. May has a 74.40 stroke average in five events this year.
Clemson is one of five ACC teams in the Augusta State Invitational. Joining the Tigers for the ACC will be North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech. The field also includes non-Southern schools Minnesota and Notre Dame.
Clemson has not won the Augusta State Invitational since 1984 when Jim
Macfie won medalist honors. Matt Hendrix, now on the PGA Tour, won the
tournament as a senior in 2004. Previous winners of the tournament that
dates to 1979 include prominent current PGA Tour players Phil Mickelson
of Arizona State (1989), Vaughan Taylor of Augusta State (1998), and
Justin Leonard of Texas (1992).
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