Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
ACC Championship
Men's Golf Finishes Second At ACC Championships
4/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 20, 2003
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
NEW LONDON, N.C. - Clemson pulled off the comebacks of all comebacks at the 2003 ACC men's golf championship Sunday, rallying from nine shots down over the final six holes to edge Wake Forest by one stroke.
Jack Ferguson's 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole clinched Clemson's fourth Atlantic Coast Conference crown in the last seven years and the seventh under coach Larry Penley.
"I don't know how to explain it," said Penley, in his 20th season with the Tigers. "I haven't ever won a tournament like this. We were getting killed and killed and killed. Credit my guys, they hung. We didn't have an A-game this week, it was about a C-game."
But it was good enough for the top-ranked Tigers to overtake the No. 2 Demon Deacons, who were gunning for their 19th ACC title but first since 1989.
"We made pars on 16 and 17, and we made three birdies on 18, and Wake kind of did the rest _ unfortunately for them," Penley said. "They played really, really well all week and they just made some bogeys coming in."
Wake Forest's top two players folded in the clutch.
Bill Haas, the leader after the first two rounds, was 5-over through nine holes and shot a 76 to finish second, while Brent Wanner had a 75 as Wake Forest was 3-over-par in Sunday's final round.
Meanwhile, Clemson got a 4-under 68 from Matt Hendrix and a 70 from Ferguson to pull out the closest team competition since the Tigers tied North Carolina State in 1990.
"I don't ever worry about them giving up," Penley said of his players. "Matt shooting 68 today was huge and Jack was 2-over through six, so he played the rest of the way 4-under par. That's the sign of a champion."
Penley approached Ferguson on the 18th green at Old North State Club before the sophomore lined up his putt to let him know where the team race stood.
"I told him not to get crazy with it because we had two putts for a co-champion. If it went in I wanted it creeping," Penley said. "He said, `Don't worry this one is center cut."'
Penley and the rest of the Clemson team, watching by the final hole, yelled and jumped up and down after Ferguson's clutch putt gave them the title.
"It was a straight uphill putt and I was making them all day," Ferguson said. "The past two rounds we've been giving up all our shots on the back side. We didn't give up any this time."
North Carolina came into Sunday one shot behind Wake Forest and finished at 5-over _ four shots off the pace.
It was a frustrating day for Haas, who was trying to join his father Jay, who won in 1973, as the only father-son combination to capture ACC individual titles.
The junior gave up a four-shot lead heading into the final round and was overtaken by North Carolina's Richard Treis, who had four birdies over his final five holes to shoot 70.
His 5-under total of 211 edged Haas by two shots.
"The front nine was very frustrating and I just couldn't recover," Haas said. "I'm sorry I didn't pull us through."
Treis, a junior from Germany, won his first college tournament despite injuring his left thumb on the sixth hole Friday. At that time, he was unsure if he could continue.
"It feels good right now," Treis said after winning the individual title.
Treis, playing in the final group with Haas, struggled on the front nine and was 1-over coming to the 14th hole before catching fire.
"I just held it together," he said. "Somehow I pulled three birdies in a row out of my back pocket."
Two-time defending champion Georgia Tech was fourth, 16 shots off the pace.
