News from the PGA ranks: Former Tiger standout Lucas Glover was selected by U.S. President’s Cup Captain Jack Nickalaus to round out the U.S. squad. For those not in the know (including myself prior to the articles I read) the President’s Cup matches the U.S. vs. an international team made of players from any country outside the U.S. and Europe (they form the Ryder Cup crowd). He will be joined on the team but such no names as Woods, Furyk, Mickelson, Johnson (Master’s winner), Howell III, Toms, Verplank, Stricker, and Cink. Woody Austin edged Glover out in points towards the team with his performance at the PGA this weekend but Nickalaus made an executive decision to take Glover. There is always a chance that some of the big names will pull out due to injury (Mickelson) but it is doubtful. This is a match play event so th following names will be Glover and company’s competition: Weir (wild card pick), Sabbatini, Scott, Choi, Cabrera, Immelman, Ogilvy, Goosen, Els, and “Slurpy” Singh.
If you are a fan of golf this should be a good tourney to keep up with, especially with a Tiger Alum involved.

Note: This gnome does not condone name calling but some players that whine and complain while making more money than god playing GOLF, deserve this treatment…especially those that feel they are “entitled.”

• Kyle Stanley is near the top of the leaderboard at Sahalee Players Championship. He’s tied for 2nd after 3 rounds at 3-under and just one stroke behind the leader. Stanley is the defending champion. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a good write up.
• Things are looking up for the linebacker corps. Billie, Clay, and Watkins should be ready to go this fall. Billie’s academics look to be in shape. And Clay was in town for first summer session while attending voluntary workouts.
• Spiller is back on campus. Wait. What? What the fuck?
  

  Clemson fans can officially relax: C.J. Spiller is back on campus.

  Clemson officials confirmed Thursday that the talented sophomore tailback has returned to Clemson from his Lake Butler, Fla., home and is enrolled in the second session of summer school classes.

  Should I have been nervous for the last 2 months? I’m getting good and sick of this shit. I’m reckoning that the media is just riding a wave that formed months ago. But if I’m wrong and Spiller really is this wishy-washy, then I’m starting to wish that he’d go somewhere else.

• Barry Richardson has been named a first-team All-American by Lindy’s. That’s good to hear. Hopefully Lindy can declare us official pre-season national champions so that I don’t have to have 13 hear-attacks this fall.
• Golfer Kyle Stanley is now the #1 ranked amateur in the country, not bad for someone who just finished his freshman year.
• Cliff Hammonds is joining Athletes in Action to play for the Jones cup in Taipei, Taiwan.
• In a case of, “what the fuck?” Instructor Bryant Smith is teaching a hip hop & leadership class which, “attempts to provide students with the basic historical framework of hip hop as a culture. It uses past and present icons in hip hop culture to demonstrate youth leadership, and empowerment.” Of course when I think of hip hop and youth leadership — actually I rarely put those two thing together, I think of what’s-his-name? and his “vote or die” campaign.
  
  Vote or die. A campaign of America’s leaders, for America’s leaders.
• Finally, let me end on a non-Clemson note. Unfortunately I was unable to attend any Clemson baseball games this season. I was, however, able to see Oregon State twice when they played at Georgia and twice more in the Charlottesville regional. And I saw both their Super Regional games and all their CWS games. They may have faltered in conference play, but at the end of the season they were awesome. The Beavers took care of business and played very good, fundamental baseball that was a joy to watch. And I must say, it was enjoyable to see them easily put away opponent after opponent, particularly the implosive UNC Tar Heels.

Last week the baseball team took the series from Florida State in Tallahassee. Tuesday they pounded College of Charleston. Then they returned to form and lost 2 in-a-row to NC State. They won the third game but I’m pretty sure there is no chance for Clemson to host a regional this year. The next game is against Miami in the ACC Tournament on Wednesday at 4. They play Wake at 4 on Friday and FSU on Saturday. This year the Tournament has been modified to be an 8-team round-robin format. Clemson is seeded #4.

The golf team played in the East Regional where the top 10 teams would advance. The Tigers tied for 10th but faltered in the playoff. In other words, season over. On the upside, Kyle Stanley finished tied for 3rd.

And current Jets player Justin Miller was arrested. Apparently, he was involved in a brawl with 3 other men. When he went to punch of them, he missed and instead struck a woman standing nearby. He was charged with 3rd Degree assault.

I’ve been disappointed that the golf team hasn’t actually won any tournaments this year, especially the ACC tournament which was held 2 weeks ago. However, it seems that league likes what it sees in the Tiger golf program.

Clemson freshman Kyle Stanley was named ACC Player of the Year and Head Coach Larry Penley was named ACC Coach of the Year by the Atlantic Coast Conference on Friday. Clemson made a clean sweep of the league golf awards, as Stanley was also named ACC Freshman of the Year. It marks the first time in ACC history the same school won the ACC Player, Freshman and Coach of the year awards in the same year.

It’s also worth noting that this is a pretty young team. The #2 player, Ben Martin, is also a freshman, and freshman Sam Saunders has also been making contributions. “Penley has taken a very young Clemson team to a top 12 ranking in both polls entering the NCAA Regional Tournament May 17-19.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m expecting a national championship next year.

After 2 of the 3 rounds at the US Collegiate Championship, the Clemson golf team sits in 2nd place, 2 strokes behind Georgia. Clemson entered the 2nd round tied with Georgia Tech for 1st place.

Individually, Tanner Ervin is leading the field tied with Wake Forest’s Webb Simpson at even par. Sam Saunders is tied for 12th at +5. Kyle Stanley is tied for 28th at +8. And David May and Ben Martin are tied for 46th at +10.

• The baseball team had gained some momentum before the Hurricanes came to town. That momentum is now gone, as the ‘Canes took the first and the third games of the series. Sunday’s Game 3 score was 7-6.
• The 8th ranked women’s tennis team went to Chapel Hill and kicked some baby blue ass this weekend. The #13 Tar Heels lost 6-1.
• Men’s tennis, on the other hand, lost on Friday to #2 Virginia 5-2. And they also lost to Virginia Tech 4-3. The lesson to be learned is that people from Clemson just don’t belong in Virginia.
• The bad news continues on into the world of men’s golf. The team finished 10th at the Administaff ASU Invitational. Coastal was first, UNC was 2nd. USCe finished 4th. The team did finish 8 shots better than 15th place USC-Aiken.

And for the golf team alumni at the Shell Houston Open:

• Lucas Glover missed the cut.
• J. Byrd earned $66,660 by finishing tied for 19th at -8.
• Matt Hendrix had three solid and one “oh my god what happened” rounds en route to winning $34,100 and finishing at -5.
• Charles Warren fared less well, but still made the cut. He finished tied for 66th at 2 over. His check was for $11,300.
• Finally, DJ Trahan finished all alone in the 8th spot. He was 10-under for the weekend and 11-under for the tournament. That performance was worth $170,500.

It may be worth noting that the 5 golfers above combined to win $282,500. I’m fairly certain they won more in a weekend that all the Gnomes make combined in a year. Which all goes to show that the time spent in the classroom would have been better spent harassing the cart girl.

• The women’s tennis team is doing a good job of avoiding the rankings curse that befell the football and basketball teams. They are currently eighth in the Fila/ITA Tennis poll; they’ve stayed in the top 10 for 4 straight weeks. They have six remaining league matchups before the ACC Championships begin April 19th.
• Justin Miller showed some of the basketball players around New York City. Miller is close friends with Vernon Hamilton. Players also went to a Brazilian restaurant, which was recommended by Oliver Purnell’s daughter, Olivia. Yes. Oliver named daughter Olivia. Not cool. Although the name Olivia is not as bad as some of the names in my family tree; I recall seeing the name Jacobina.
• Speaking of the basketball team, they beat Air Force by a point to move on to the NIT finals. More on that later.
• Gardner-Webb gave little resistance to the baseball team last night. The Tigers blitzkrieged the Bulldog defenses en route to a decisive 14-2 win.
• “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.”