May 21, 2003

Larry Penley's Clemson golf team remains ranked number-one in the nation in all three college golf polls entering the NCAA national tournament. Clemson has been ranked number-one by Golf World, Golfweek/Sagarin and the Precept Coach's poll for every poll this spring. Clemson has been number-one since the fall in the Precept and the Golf World polls.

In the Precept Coach's Poll, Clemson earned 21 of the 30 first place votes. No other school had more than three first-place votes. The Tigers are ranked ahead of second-place Augusta State and third-ranked Texas. Wake Forest is ranked fourth, meaning three of the top four teams in the nation are in the Southeast.

Clemson is first and Florida is second in the Sagarin/Golfweek Computer Poll. The Tigers have a margin of 1.02 rating points. Clemson's distance between itself and Florida is equal to the margin in rating points between the Gators and 17th ranked New Mexico, an indication of Clemson's strength in the computer poll this year.

Clemson has a 95-8-3 record in head to head tournament competition against the top Top 25 teams, by far the best top 25 record in the nation. That is a .910 winning percentage, far ahead of Oklahoma State's .696 figure (58-25-1), the second best percentage against top 25 competion. Clemson is also ranked number-two by Golfweek in terms of strength of schedule, trailing only Texas.

Individually, Clemson has three of the top 10 players in the nation according to the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. D.J. Trahan is second, while Jack Ferguson is fifth and Matt Hendrix is 10th. Gregg Jones has moved up to 41st after his outstanding second place finish in the NCAA East Regional. Clemson is the only school in the nation with three players ranked in the top 10 and four in the top 50. Only Florida and Texas have as many as three top 50 players. Clemson has never finished a season with three players ranked in the top 10 in the final individual poll. The number-one ranked player in the nation is Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State.

Precept Coach's Poll
        (As of May 6, 2003)
        Rk      School  Pts
        1.      Clemson         709
        2.      Augusta State   650
        3.      Texas           637
        4.      Wake Forest     586
        5.      Oklahoma State  583
        6.      UCLA            566
        7.      Arizona         540
        8.      Florida         519
        9.      TCU             516
        10.     UNLV            454
        11.     Auburn          353
        12.     Georgia         351
        13.     North Carolina  350
        14.     Georgia Tech    327
                Minnesota       327
        16.     NC State        265
        17.     Arizona State   258
        18.     Oklahoma        192
        19.     New Mexico      177
        20.     Washington      156
        21.     Illinois        118
        22.     College of Charleston   100
        23.     Arkansas        93
        24.     Pepperdine      87
        25.     Duke            75


Golfweek/Sagarin Computer Ranking
        (May 20, 2003)
        Rk      School  Rating
        1.      Clemson         69.67
        2.      Florida         70.69
        3.      Wake Forest     70.78
        4.      Texas           70.87
        5.      Oklahoma State  70.87
        6.      Arizona         70.89
        7.      Augusta State   70.92
        8.      UNLV            71.10
        9.      UCLA            71.11
        10.     North Carolina  71.16
        11.     TCU             71.17
        12.     Georgia         71.32
        13.     Georgia Tech    71.33
        14.     Auburn          71.40
        15.     Minnesota       71.53
        16.     Arizona State   71.65
        17.     New Mexico      71.71
        18.     NC State        71.72
        19.     Tennessee       71.81
        20.     Illinois        71.84
        21.     College of Charleston   71.84
        22.     Washington      71.86
        23.     Arkansas        71.87
        24.     South Carolina  71.98
        25.     Duke            72.05


Golf World
(As of May 16)
        Rk      School  Pts
        1.      Clemson         299
        2.      Texas           263
        3.      Augusta State   259
                Wake Forest     259
        5.      Oklahoma State  249
        6.      Arizona         232
        7.      TCU             228
        8.      UCLA            224
        9.      Florida         212
        10.     UNLV            205
        11.     Minnesota       167
        12.     North Carolina  162
        13.     Georgia         135
        14.     Auburn          128
        15.     Georgia Tech    124
        16.     N.C State       115
        17.     Arizona State   111
        18.     Washington      86
        19.     New Mexico      72
        20.     Illinois        60
        21.     College of Charleston   56
        22.     Pepperdine      47
        23.     Oklahoma        40
        24.     SMU             31
        25.     Arkansas        28


Golfweek/Sagarin Individual Computer Rankings
        (As of May 20, 2003)
        Rk      Player          School          Rating
        1.      Hunter Mahan    Oklahoma State  68.72
        2.      D.J. Trahan     Clemson         69.17
        3.      Troy Matteson   Georgia Tech    69.48
        4.      Bill Haas       Wake Forest     69.52
        5.      Jack Ferguson   Clemson         69.62
        6.      Brandt Snedeker Vanderbilt      69.73
        7.      Oliver Wilson   Augusta State   69.79
        8.      Nick Watney     Fresno State    69.79
        9.      Ricky Barnes    Arizona         69.81
        10.     Matt Hendrix    Clemson         69.82
        11.     Chris Nallen    Arizona         69.89
        12.     Dustin Bray     North Carolina  69.92
        13.     James Lepp      Illinois        70.12
        14.     David Inglis    Tulsa           70.15
        15.     Justin Walters  NC State        70.20
        16.     Camilo Villegas Florida         70.21
        17.     Ryan Moore      UNLV            70.21
        18.     Brock MacKenzie Washington      70.24
        19.     Michael Letzip  New Mexico      70.28
        20.     Jason Hartwick  Texas           70.31
        41.     Gregg Jones     Clemson         71.05