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WILLIE SAYS: The school’s closing is no reflection on T-Salem students. B4 CALENDAR A2 CLASSIFIEDS D3 COLUMNISTS B2 COMICS B2 ENTERTAINMENT B3 LIFESTYLE B1 OBITUARIES B4 OPINION A4 SPORTS C1 STOCK REPORTS D2 TELL WILLIE B4 WORLD | NATION D1 DELIVERY (864) 882-2375 NEWS (864) 882-6397 CLASSIFIEDS (864) 882-2375 ADVERTISING (864) 973-6305 | INSIDE | | INFO | Vol. 112 No. 1 Friday, January 1, 2016 $ 1 00 T HE J OURNAL HAPPY NEW YEAR! CU in Arizona REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL Clemson receivers Hunter Renfrow, left, and Artavis Scott celebrate after Renfrow scored a touchdown during the Tigers’ 37-17 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday night in Miami Gardens, Fla. Second-half surge sends Tigers to national title game • Tigers’ defense clamps down to punch ticket to Glendale. C1 • Notebook: Watson came to Clemson “for moments like this.” C1 • Column: Have Tigers finally fully earned respect? C1 • A quarter-by-quarter breakdown and statistics from Thursday’s game. C6 • Alabama punches its ticket to championship game with blowout win over Michigan State. C4 Inside BY ROBBIE TINSLEY THE JOURNAL MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — lemson came out of the locker room for the second half running, and the Tigers won’t stop until they get to Glendale, Ariz. Clemson running back Wayne Gallman finished with 150 yards — 111 after halftime — with two second-half touch- downs and quarterback Deshaun Watson added 145 yards on the ground to send the Tigers to the national championship game with a 37-17 victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Thursday. “The second half was my time,” Gallman said afterward. “I knew the defense was worn down and it was time to go to the run.” All in all, Clemson (14-0) finished with 312 rushing yards compared to Oklahoma’s run total of just 67. Thirty-four years after Clemson’s lone national championship in 1981 — with a team Danny Ford built on the importance of run offense and defense — the Tigers will play Alabama on Jan. 11 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., with a chance to put “2015” amongst “1981” in program lore. SEE TIGERS, PAGE A2

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| PAGE LABEL EVEN |

WILLIE SAYS: The school’s closing is no reflection on T-Salem students. B4

CALENDAR A2CLASSIFIEDS D3COLUMNISTS B2COMICS B2

ENTERTAINMENT B3LIFESTYLE B1OBITUARIES B4OPINION A4

SPORTS C1STOCK REPORTS D2TELL WILLIE B4WORLD | NATION D1

DELIVERY (864) 882-2375 NEWS (864) 882-6397CLASSIFIEDS (864) 882-2375ADVERTISING (864) 973-6305

| INSIDE | | INFO |

Vol. 112 No. 1 Friday, January 1, 2016 $100

The Journal

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CU in Arizona

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Clemson receivers Hunter Renfrow, left, and Artavis Scott celebrate after Renfrow scored a touchdown during the Tigers’ 37-17 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday night in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Second-half surge sends Tigers to national title game• Tigers’ defense clamps

down to punch ticket to Glendale. C1

• Notebook: Watson came to Clemson “for moments like this.” C1

• Column: Have Tigers finally fully earned respect? C1

• A quarter-by-quarter breakdown and statistics from Thursday’s game. C6

• Alabama punches its ticket to championship game with blowout win over Michigan State. C4

InsideBY ROBBIE TINSLEY

THE JOURNAL

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — lemson came out of the locker room for the second half running, and the Tigers won’t stop until they get to Glendale, Ariz.

Clemson running back Wayne Gallman finished with 150 yards — 111 after halftime — with two second-half touch-downs and quarterback Deshaun Watson added 145 yards on the ground to send the Tigers to the national championship game with a 37-17 victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Thursday.

“The second half was my time,” Gallman said afterward. “I knew the defense was worn down and it was time to go to the run.”

All in all, Clemson (14-0) finished with 312 rushing yards compared to Oklahoma’s run total of just 67. Thirty-four years after Clemson’s lone national championship in 1981 — with a team Danny Ford built on the importance of run offense and defense — the Tigers will play Alabama on Jan. 11 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., with a chance to put “2015” amongst “1981” in program lore.

SEE TIGERS, PAGE A2

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Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Journal C1

SportSSportSSports Editor: Robbie Tinsley | [email protected] | 864-882-2385Sports Writer: J.D. Elliott | [email protected] | 864-882-2386

JOHNNY BE GONE Browns officially part ways with former 1st-

round pick Manziel. C4

INSIDECollege hoops C3

NASCAR C3High schools C4

Outdoors C5

Brownell, Tigers have reason for optimism,

but not satisfaction

Stricker shares lead at Valspar as Spieth

makes cut

Tigers drop ACC opener to Deacons

thanks to Craig’s HRs

THE JOURNAL STAFF

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Wake Forest hit three home runs, including two two-run homers by Will Craig, to jump out to a 6-0 lead and held on to defeat No. 20 Clem-son 6-4 on Friday night.

Wake Forest (11-4, 1-0 ACC) scored three runs in the first

inning, capped by Craig’s first long ball of the game. Gavin Sheets led off the second with a homer before Craig’s second home run of the night and sev-enth of the season in the third.

The Tigers (9-3, 0-1) chipped away with a

two-run homer by Seth Beer, his fourth of the year, in the fourth inning and Chase Pinder’s solo long ball, his team-leading fifth of the year, in the seventh inning.

Tiger starter Charlie Barnes (1-2) suffered the loss despite a career-high nine strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

The series continues today at 4 p.m.

BY J.D. ELLIOTTTHE JOURNAL

CENTRAL — Despite the fact that his team trailed for most of Friday’s 9-6 loss to Palmetto High School, Daniel baseball coach Randy Christmas was pleased with the grit of his team.

“Teams in the past wouldn’t battle like we battled tonight,” Christmas said. “There were three or four times when we could have hung our heads, but our guys competed.”

The Lions pitching strug-gled for much of the evening, forcing Christmas to trot out five different pitchers to record the 21 outs necessary to finish the game, but Daniel responded with runs in three of the four frames that Palmetto scored.

The top of the Mustangs order was especially deadly. The first three hitters — Pay-

ton Young, Grant Houston and Gehrig DeFronzo — went a combined 6-for-10 with six

runs, 3 RBI, two tri-ples and a double.

“The top of the lineup set the table for us,” Palmetto coach Matt Frazier said. “Young had a great game for us with a couple triples and scored some runs, Houston has been battling a hamstring injury, so it was nice to have him in the

lineup and he had a couple clutch hits for RBI.”

Down 9-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lions made it interesting in the final frame.

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Daniel shortstop Jacob Maloney leaps for a high throw as Palmetto’s Luke Cothran slides into second base during their game on Friday night in Central. The Lions scored three in the seventh, but lost 9-6.

Daniel shows grit, but fall to hot-hitting Mustangs

Central success

BY ROBBIE TINSLEYTHE JOURNAL

CLEMSON — Shaq Lawson is eager to find out where his new home is going to be.

With the exception of a year at prep school in Virginia in 2012, Lawson has called either Central or Clemson home for all of his 21 years, but by the end of April, he’ll know where he’s going to be spending the next chunk of his life.

That’s when the 2016 NFL draft will be held in Chicago, and Lawson — along with his mother and younger siblings — will be right there to find out where his new home will be.

“I just can’t wait for that day to come,” he said after partici-pating in Clemson’s pro day on Wednesday. “It’ll just be spe-cial to hear my name called.”

Lawson will be the eighth Clemson defensive end in 10 years to get drafted — a rather startling streak that includes five taken in the first two rounds, another group Lawson should join.

But it’s another tradition Lawson has continued that hits closer to home — he’ll be the fourth Daniel High School football alumnus in less than a decade to make the journey from Singleton Field to Clemson’s Memorial Stadium to the professional

ranks, joining Jarvis Jen-kins, DeAndre Hopkins and DeShawn Williams.

It’s a run that their Daniel football coach Randy Robin-son calls “unprecedented.”

“It’s hard to believe that a school of Daniel’s size can have four guys in the NFL at the same time,” Robinson said.

Lawson called his time at Daniel “a great experience.”

“The program at Daniel is great,” he said. “We follow the same thing we do at Clemson. Great football team, great coaching staff — they put me in the right position to be successful.”

Howard Stern’s “Private Parts” was the reigning No. 1 at the box office,

the Spice Girls’ annoying yet catchy “Wannabe” was atop the Billboard charts, and I was a senior in high school the last time Clemson won a game in the NCAA Tourna-ment proper.

The Tigers’ second-half collapse Wednesday ensured

the drought will con-tinue for at least an-other year. (Not that they were in any danger of making the field, but it was still technically possible.)

The Tigers did win a game in the First Four

in 2010, but for the purposes of making an apples-to-ap-ples comparison to other Clemson teams and coaches, they haven’t registered a victory as one of the final 64 teams since 1997.

In the wake of Clemson’s 88-85 ACC Tournament defeat to Georgia Tech, there was a noticeable vibe around the program that reminded me distinctly of what took place with the Ti-ger baseball program about a year ago.

Much like the tail end of Jack Leggett’s tenure, the fan base is divided … and it makes the team, well, not much fun to follow.

OFF THE BEAT | STEVENBRADLEY

SEE BRADLEY, PAGE C3

Lawson the latest Lion on NFL’s doorstep

SEE DANIEL, PAGE C5

‘Not many people make it from where we’re from.

To have people from Central be in the NFL is just

great. We know we’re doing something

right.’

Shaq Lawson

BY DOUG FERGUSONASSOCIATED PRESS

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Jordan Spieth holed three shots from off the green and made the cut with one shot to spare Friday in the Valspar Championship.

Now he has to figure out how to catch up to Steve Stricker and Will MacKenzie.

Stricker, playing for only the fifth time this year, holed out from the 10th fairway for eagle and made a 60-foot birdie putt across the fourth green for a 5-under 66 that gave him a share

of the lead with MacKenzie, who had a 67.

They were at 5-under 137, one shot ahead of Bill Haas (67), Graham DeLaet (66) and Daniel Berger (68).

Spieth is just happy to be joining them. He opened with a 76 and was in danger of missing the cut, espe-cially when the wind began to pick up just as he was starting his second round on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.

And then he hooked his tee shot on the par-5 opening hole into a bush, had to take a penalty shot and made bogey on the easiest hole on the course.

“I’m walking off that green going, ‘Oh, boy. We can either somehow flip this one around today or ... I don’t want that to be the key of me not being able to be here for the weekend.’ I thought it was really strong what we did after that,” he said.

Nearly five hours later, af-ter he nearly holed a bunker shot on the 17th to save par, Spieth exhaled on the 18th tee and said with a smile, “This was grinding today. I’ve got some good stuff com-ing on the weekend.”

He wound up with a 68 and was at 2-over 144 to make the cut by one shot. That’s all he was thinking about until he chipped in from behind the green on the 15th for a birdie, and his tee shot on the 16th narrowly cleared the water.

It was hard work, and there is plenty left.

Stricker

SEE STRICKER, PAGE C3SEE LAWSON, PAGE C3

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REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

A consensus first-round draft pick for April’s NFL draft, Shaq Lawson looks to be the latest high draft pick for a pair of successful traditions — Clemson defensive ends and former Daniel High School standouts.

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Saturday, March 19, 2016 The Journal C1

SportSSportSSports Editor: Robbie Tinsley | [email protected] | 864-882-2385Sports Writer: J.D. Elliott | [email protected] | 864-882-2386

PURE MADNESS Double-digit seeds rule the day as upset-heavy first round comes to an end. C8

INSIDEHigh schools C2

Scoreboard C3Outdoors C5NASCAR C7

Relationship with coach leads Taylor to special senior season

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

West-Oak’s Ajah Taylor is the Mountain Lakes’ Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

BY J.D. ELLIOTTTHE JOURNAL

WESTMNINSTER — First-year West-Oak High School girls’ bas-ketball coach Natosha Rucker knew what she had in senior Ajah Taylor long before she accepted her new position.

As an assistant at Seneca, Rucker witnessed firsthand what the versa-tile Taylor could bring to the court.

And as her first season as Taylor’s head coach, the combo guard didn’t disappoint. In her final season as a War-rior, Taylor led the team to the playoffs and averaged 17.3 points per game, 11.1 rebounds per game and 2.8 steals per contest on her way to All-Western 3A and All-State honors, as well as being named The Journal’s Mountain Lakes Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

“It’s shocking, I didn’t think I would see myself in this position — ever,” Tay-lor said of her three big honors.

When asked about the biggest factor in elevating her game, Taylor’s

answer was simple — her new head coach.

“She never let me stay down on myself for too long — she always tried to

pick me up,” Taylor said. “That was something that

I’ve been dealing with ever since I got here.”

Whether it was a missed layup or free throw or even a foul call, Taylor would quickly get down on her self, but Rucker encouraged her player to forget about it and focus on the next play.

The process of developing Taylor into a star began long before the season opener.

Bracket busters

Top-seeded Gamecocks bully J’ville in tourney

opener

Missing out on most of

March Madness

There was a time in my life when the first two days of the NCAA Tour-

nament would have meant setting up shop in front of a TV for every potential upset and bracket-buster that came on.

And by “there was a time in my life,” I mean the first 36 years. Many of you who are longtime readers of our newspa-per might remember me writing in this spot how much I enjoyed the Big Dance.

But so far this week,

for the 37th March Madness of my lifetime, I haven’t watched a single game. That’s something I never thought I’d say.

I’ve seen the final seconds of a few contests when the guys gathered around the TV in the newsroom got rowdy enough to grab my attention, but not an actual game. Prob-ably won’t watch much more today or Sunday.

This thought occurred to me as a sat down to write this column about the Big Dance and realized, well, it was gonna be tricky.

One of the things that regularly occurs to me these days is how intoler-ant people can be of others’ opinions — even simple likes and dislikes — and that seems strange to me because one would hope most of us change and mature over our lifetimes.

There are many things I don’t understand why some folks enjoy — Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, steaks cooked past medium, bro-country, flat-billed caps and any TV show featuring a Kardashian or their former step-dad come to mind.

But that doesn’t mean I look down upon people who appreciate those things. Heck, I might wake up tomorrow and realize I’m ready to take the plunge on any of them.

(OK, I’m probably not going to suddenly start liking overdone steaks, but the others are within the realm. I once enjoyed pro wrestling and the band Creed, so I’m not ruling anything out.)

OFF THE BEAT | STEVENBRADLEY

SEE BRADLEY, PAGE C6

BASKETBALL

ALL-MOUNTAIN LAKES

BASKETBALL

Girls’Girls’

SEE TAYLOR, PAGE C4

BY J.D. ELLIOTTTHE JOURNAL

CLEMSON — Friday nights have been a struggle for the Clemson baseball team through the first few weeks of the 2016 season.

Entering this week-end’s series against Boston College, the Ti-gers were a perfect 12-0 on the other six days of the week, but just 1-3 in Friday games.

With that in mind, first-year Clemson skip-per Monte Lee made a change which paid huge dividends as the Tigers took care of business against the Eagles with a series-opening 6-2 win Friday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

After sophomore lefty Charlie Barnes garnered

the first four Friday starts of the season, Lee elected to start se-nior right-hander Clate Schmidt in the premier weekend rotation spot against BC, and Schmidt pitched sev-en innings of two-run ball while strik-

ing out a career-high 11 batters to lead his team to the victory.

Left-handed reliever Patrick Krall continued his devastating start to the season, tossing two scoreless innings to relief to shut the door on the Eagles (12-4, 2-2 ACC).

“We felt like our best chance to win game one was to run Clate out there, and then run Krall out there behind him,” Lee said. “We thought that was our best combination, and it worked out tonight. We will definitely move forward with that next weekend, and hopeful-ly we will leave it like that the rest of the year, because if we pitch like that, we’re going to win a lot of games.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Schmidt.

After Clemson (14-3, 3-1 ACC) scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, Boston College responded by smacking a pair of solo home runs in the top of the third.

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Clemson’s Seth Beer holds a celebratory sledgehammer after hitting a two-run home run during the Tigers’ 6-2 win over Boston College on Friday.

Schmidt, home runs help Tigers solve Friday hex

ASSOCIATED PRESS

March Madness’ biggest upset in the Round of 64 came at the expense of one of the NCAA Tournament’s stalwarts. Jaqawn Raymond and 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee State never trailed in their shocking 90-81 win over No. 2 seed Michigan State on Friday in St. Louis. It’s

only the eighth time a No. 15 seed has defeated a No. 2 seed in tournament history. For more from Friday’s upset-heavy action, turn to page C8.

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SEE TIGERS, PAGE C6

BY PETE IACOBELLIASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA — South Car-olina forward Alaina Coates said coach Dawn Staley had a stern, succinct mes-sage for her cold-shooting Gamecocks early on against Jacksonville.

“She told us to pound the ball in the paint,” Coates said.

It’s worked for the top-seeded Gamecocks all season — and it worked once more to start the NCAA Tourna-ment as twin post powers Coates and A’ja Wilson each had double doubles to lift South Carolina

to a 77-41 victory over Jack-sonville on Friday night.

The 6-foot-4 Coates had 22 points and 10 rebounds while 6-5 Wilson had 15 points and 11 boards.

The Gamecocks (32-1) next play No. 9 seed Kansas State on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.

South Carolina started just 2 of 9 from the field against first-time NCAA participant Dolphins (22-11), often set-

77

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SEE GAMECOCKS, PAGE C2

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Saturday, April 2, 2016 The Journal C1

SportSSportSSports Editor: Robbie Tinsley | [email protected] | 864-882-2385Sports Writer: J.D. Elliott | [email protected] | 864-882-2386

HOUSTON, WE HAVE TIP-OFF Wildcats, Sooners, Tar Heels and Orange prepare for Final Four. C5

INSIDEScoreboard C2

NASCAR C3Outdoors C3

MLB C4

Frank Martin given 4-year extension by

South CarolinaBY PETE IACOBELLI

ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA — South Carolina men’s basketball coach Frank Martin has received a four-year contract extension and a raise af-ter tying the Gamecocks’ record for most wins in a season.

Martin’s new deal was ap-proved by the school’s Board of Trustees on Friday. He received a raise of $350,000 and will make $2.45 million next season. The con-tract keeps Martin at South Carolina through 2021-22. He

had two years remaining on the six-year contract he signed after arriving from Kansas State following the 2011-12 season.

Martin’s salary will increase by $50,000 each year throughout the life of the contract.

The Gamecocks started 15-0 this season and went 11-7 in the SEC to finish the year 25-9, matching the most wins in program history. The last time South Carolina won 25 games was the 1969-70 season.

Even though South Carolina did not receive an NCAA Tour-nament bid this year, athletic director Ray Tanner believes the program is heading in the right direction.

Martin

SEE MARTIN, PAGE C5

Last season at Turner Field figures to be bleak for Braves

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Opening Day starting pitcher Julio Teheran figures to be one of the few bright spots for the Atlanta Braves in 2016.

BY PAUL NEWBERRYASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves are looking forward to a shiny new stadium and the bounty of a replen-ished farm system.

First, they must get through 2016.Coming off a 95-loss season, their

worst in a quarter-century, the Braves are likely to endure another difficult year while slogging through a major rebuilding job.

New general manager John Cop-polella has largely accomplished the goal of hoarding top young tal-ent, including an impressive trade with Arizona that brought in 2015 No. 1 overall pick Dansby Swan-son. A farm system that ranked

among the worst in baseball just a year ago is now considered one of the best.

The big league roster is filled with holes, however, from a woefully thin rotation to a glaring lack of power hitters.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez tried to sound optimistic.

“My expectation is for us to always be a playoff team, to get in there somehow,” he said. “A lot of stuff’s got to go right for us to do that, obvi-ously.”

Back to reality.The once-powerhouse franchise

is clearly aiming toward a return to contention in 2017, when the Braves move into their new suburban home, SunTrust Park.

“I just know that last year what we went through was the start of a process, and this year we’re in the second year of that process,” catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “I’m sure there are people around who don’t believe we’re any good.”

But team’s future at new suburban

ballpark is brighter

SEE BRAVES, PAGE C4

Column: As Tiger fades away, let’s not forget

his greatnessBY PAUL NEWBERRY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The azaleas are blooming, the pollen is swirling, and green sport coats are about to be in

vogue for one whole week.Yet something is missing at

this dawning of spring.Tiger Woods.Whether he shows up at

Augusta National to play in the first major of the year is beside

the point.— Editor’s note:

Woods announced Friday night that he will not play in the Masters. See page C3.

—What’s missing

is something that’s never coming back.

Tiger in his prime.While there’s no question the

future of the game is in good hands with Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, none of those young guns is likely to match — or even come close — to what Woods did at the height of his dominance.

Spieth gave it a run last year, winning the Masters and the U.S. Open, just missing out on a playoff at the British Open, and taking the runner-up spot at the PGA Championship.

Now, let’s see if the young Tex-an can keep it going for another decade or so.

“It’s hard to explain to Jordan coming out now how (Woods) was just so much better than everyone,” says Adam Scott, a Masters champion himself. “We’re all quick to forget that sometimes.”

Woods

SEE WOODS, PAGE C6

Friday night fireworks | CLEMSON BASEBALL |

BY J.D. ELLIOTTTHE JOURNAL

CLEMSON — The Clemson baseball team hasn’t lost a game at Doug Kingsmore Sta-dium since the season opener against Maine, and that trend continued as the Tigers beat Pittsburgh 14-6 on Friday night.

Clemson’s home winning streak reached lucky No. 13, as the Tiger batters knocked 16 hits and every player in the starting lineup reached base at least once. It’s the longest home winning streak since the 2009-10 seasons, when Clemson (20-6, 6-4 ACC) won 18 home contests in a row.

“You’re not supposed to lose at home,” said left fielder Reed Rohlman, who went 4-for-5 at the plate. “This isn’t surpris-ing to us — this is our place. We want people to fear coming in here, and we’ve done a great job of that so far. I think teams are starting to realize that we love playing here. It’s a special thing — we have some of the best fans in the country, and it’s exciting.”

After plating one run in the second, the Tigers scored in every remaining frame against Pittsburgh (12-10, 4-6), produc-ing multiple runs in the third (3), fourth (2) and sixth (5).

Pittsburgh starter Josh Falk (2-3) escaped trouble in the first inning by forcing Seth Beer to hit into an inning-end-ing double play with a pair of runners on first and second, but the right-hander gave up five hits and two walks — allowing four runners to cross the plate in 2.1 innings.

His replacement, Jextin Pugh, didn’t fare much better, surrendering two runs in 1.2

innings, and the wheels fell off for Garrett Wrambel, who was roughed up for six runs in just 1.1 innings of work.

Rohlman was one of six Tigers with a multi-hit game, driving in three runs and scoring a pair in the rout. After failing to record a hit in the final two games of last weekend’s series against Miami, Rohlman has had a bounce-back week tallying seven hits in 11 plate appear-ances in his last three games.

“I haven’t really changed much — it’s baseball,” Rohl-man said. “Hitters are going to go through droughts, but (I’ve been) talking to the coaches every day, making

PHOTOS BY REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Top: Clemson’s Reed Rohlman led the offensive charge with four hits as the team racked up 16 base knocks in Friday’s game against Pittsburgh. Bottom: Chris Williams high-fives Chase Pinder after scoring one of the Tigers’ 14 runs, which powered the team’s 13th win in a row at Doug Kingsmore.

Thanks to offensive outburst,

Tigers keep Rohl-ing at home

SEE TIGERS, PAGE C5

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BY EDDIE PELLSASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — One good shot deserved another.

Kris Jenkins of Villanova wasn’t about to be outdone.

Jenkins overcame the shock of watching North Carolina’s Mar-cus Paige hit a double-clutch 3 to tie it by spotting up behind the right side of the arc and draining a 3 of his own at the buzzer to lift Villanova to a 77-74 victory and the national championship Monday night.

What a shot. What a game.

The second-seeded Wildcats (35-5), had a six-point lead with 1:52 left, but watched it slowly trickle away. Then, it was gone, when Paige jumped — and with Ryan Arcidiacono run-ning at him — double clutched and pumped one from beyond the arc to tie the game at 74 with 4.7 seconds left.

After a timeout, Arcidiacono took the inbound pass from

Jenkins, worked the ball upcourt

and got it back to the junior guard. He took two quick stutter steps and swished it from about two steps behind the 3-point line.

Jenkins’ range is anywhere in the gym, as he showed earlier in the tournament by nonchalantly draining a shot from the edge of the midcourt logo.

When this one went up, he never had a doubt.

“I think every shot’s going in, and this one was no different,” he said.

He finished with 14 points — the last three as memorable as any that have been scored in the histo-ry of this tournament.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016 The Journal C1

SportSSportSSports Editor: Robbie Tinsley | [email protected] | 864-882-2385Sports Writer: J.D. Elliott | [email protected] | 864-882-2386

LOOKING FOR A BREAKTHROUGHFowler among those hoping to end major heartbreak at Augusta. C4

INSIDECollege hoops C2

High schools C3MLB C3

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Daniel attacker Kit Schleifer tries to get past West-Oak’s Carlos Beatriz during their game on Monday night in Central.

| NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP |

SUPER ‘NOVA

Clemson looks to improve red zone offenseBY J.D. ELLIOTT

THE JOURNAL

CLEMSON — It’s tough to have qualms when your team scores on 90 percent of red zone opportunities, but nev-ertheless, the Clemson football team has focused on red zone offense this offseason.

The coaching staff isn’t dissatisfied with the percentage — the total was good for 14th in the nation — but they would like to improve upon the Tigers’ 60-percent touch-down mark in red zone opportunities. The Ti-gers cashed in 34 touch-

downs and converted 24 red zone field goals in 60 red zone chances.

For com-parison, Clemson op-ponents fared just slight-ly worse,

scoring touchdowns on 57 percent of red zone opportunities.

“We have all the ingre-dients (to be great in the red zone),” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said following Monday prac-tice. “If you’re going to be a team that can score in the red zone, you need an

athletic quarterback. The field shrinks — every-thing’s tighter — (and) you don’t have near as much room for error.

“You have to be able to run the football, you have to have an athletic quarterback and (you have to have) guys that can win 1-on-1 matchups. We have those things, so we should be a very good red zone scoring team.”

Swinney was pleased with the high percentage of points in the red zone, commenting the total could be even higher if Clemson didn’t decide to take a knee on three trips inside the 20-yard line.

With quarterback Deshaun Watson at the helm and a healthy stable of running backs, the Tigers can cross the first two things off the list. A Heisman Trophy con-tender, Watson is a work-aholic who is devoted to fine-tuning his craft, and that includes scoring more points at the end of drives.

“(We need to work on) just finishing the drive and capitalizing on the opportunities,” Watson said. “Last season, (we had to settle for too many field goals), so we need to

Lions struggle to break down West-Oak, pull away after halftimeBY ROBBIE TINSLEY

THE JOURNAL

CENTRAL — After a week off from com-petition due to spring break, the Daniel High School boys’ soccer team certainly lacked the cohesion and clinical nature the Lions usually possess.

But Daniel’s 3-0 win against West-Oak was less about what the de-fending region champion Lions struggled to do and more about who they struggled with.

In conjunction with a well-organized War-rior defense, West-Oak freshman goalkeeper George Dioguardi made 28 saves in a valiant at-tempt to keep the Lions from scoring. It took the home team 48 minutes to break the deadlock and Dioguardi was hardly at fault for the first two Daniel goals — a John Martin penalty kick and an own goal by a War-rior defender.

While Daniel head coach Phillip Boyer bemoaned his team’s rustiness, he was also quick to give credit to West-Oak’s defending — particularly Dioguardi.

“They didn’t give us many gaps to work with in the final third, and when we did find a gap, their keeper had a really great game,” Boyer said. “I just told him (after the game) that was probably the best keeper perfor-mance I’ve seen against us this season. I thought he had a phenomenal game.”

West-Oak head coach Eddie Cliffe said he’s

come to ex-pect that lev-el of perfor-mance from Dioguardi.

“G is going to be a big asset — he’s only a freshman,” Cliffe said. “We have a tendency at West-Oak to have good

keepers, so we hope that he keeps that tradition.”

Going up against a team that has yet to lose in region play, West-Oak made a conscious decision to play a defensive-minded game and force Daniel (9-1, 7-0 Western 3A) to break down the Warrior de-fense piece by piece.

“We knew Daniel hadn’t lost and that they were going to be proba-bly the toughest compe-tition we’ll face all year,” Dioguardi said. “We knew we had to come out strong.”

The Lions fired a cou-ple long-distance shots at Dioguardi early in the match, but their first big chance came when a corner dropped to Bilal Karanfil. The striker’s snap shot in the 14th minute was forced out of the danger area by the Warrior keeper. Six min-utes later, Kit Schleifer caught a left-footed strike sweetly, only for Dioguardi to make a leaping save.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington Nationals’ Jayson Werth scores the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly as the ball gets past Atlanta Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski in the ninth inning on Monday in Atlanta.

Braves let Opening Day win slip awayBY CHARLES ODUM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — Gordon Beck-ham and the Atlanta Braves threw away chances to win their opener.

Jason Grilli couldn’t hold a one-run lead in the ninth inning and Beckham’s throwing error set up Daniel Murphy’s run-scor-ing double in the 10th that sent the Washington Nationals to a 4-3 victory Monday.

“You let a good team hang around and they end up scoring a run,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

New shortstop Erick Aybar also had a throwing error in his Atlanta debut as the Braves wasted a solid start by Julio Teheran, who allowed two runs and five hits in six innings.

“I did everything that I could to keep my team in the game,” Teheran said, adding he made “a couple mistakes” on homers by Murphy and Bryce Harper.

“But I felt really good,” Teheran added.

Freddie Freeman and Adonis Garcia homered against Washington ace Max Scherzer.

The Braves took a 3-2 lead in the eighth. Washington’s Shawn Kelley, who replaced Felipe Riv-ero with the bases loaded, threw four straight balls to Garcia to force in a run.

Washington got even in the ninth on Michael Taylor’s

sacrifice fly to shallow center field. Atlanta nearly escaped with a game-ending double play, but Jayson Werth scored when catcher A.J. Pierzynski dropped Ender Inciarte’s accurate throw that beat Werth to the plate.

“It was a tough play at the plate there, you know?” said Gonzalez, a former catcher. “First of all you’ve got to get a good throw and you’ve got to make a great tag and it’s tough. It’s not as easy as you think.”

Murphy’s one-out double to left off Eric O’Flaherty (0-1) drove in Ryan Zimmerman from second base in the 10th. Zimmerman reached on a two-base throw-ing error by Beckham, playing second base after walking as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.

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SEE CLEMSON, PAGE C4

ASSSOCIATED PRESS

Villanova players collapse on Kris Jenkins after his buzzer-beating 3-pointer to top North Carolina in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game on Monday at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Wildcats win instant classic with buzzer beater

SEE BRAVES, PAGE C3

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Friday, April 8, 2016 The Journal C1

SportSSportSSports Editor: Robbie Tinsley | [email protected] | 864-882-2385Sports Writer: J.D. Elliott | [email protected] | 864-882-2386

WORKING FOR ONE LAST WEEKEND Watson flirting with cut line in final Masters. C4

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Bob Hill Realty | www.BobHillRealty.com

[email protected] • (864) 247-0213 • 528-D ByPass 123 • Seneca, SC 29678 • 864-882-0855

Donna took the stress out of home buying.Working with Donna Absher of Bob Hill Realty was a pleasure from start to finish. Knowing the

quick turn-around required for my move, Donna never wasted a moment of my time showing prop-erties that were in any way unsuitable to my tastes or circumstances. Donna was always prepared to answer any questions I had regarding the homes shown and her knowledge of the county was and still is a great help. I had two weeks to pack up and leave my home of 20 years in New Jersey, during that very stressful time, Donna kept every arrangement moving forward as well as keeping me constantly updated on the progress. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Donna and Bob Hill Realty and would recommend them without reservation.

Peggy McGrady, Westminster, SC

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Seneca’s Maria Molloseau delivers a pitch during the Lady ‘Cats’ 5-1 victory over Walhalla on Thursday.

| 2016 MASTERS TOURNAMENT |

Guess who?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jordan Spieth pumps his fist after making a birdie putt at the 18th hole of the Augusta National on Thursday. Spieth fired a first-round 66 at the Masters as he begun his bid to repeat as champion at golf’s first major.

Spieth’s repeat bid at Augusta off to dream start

BY DOUG FERGUSONASSOCIATED PRESS

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jordan Spieth is off to another great start in the Masters because of the way he finished.

His two biggest rivals were left behind because they couldn’t.

Spieth capped off the only bo-gey-free round in the wicked wind at Augusta National by making a 15-foot par putt on the 16th hole and hitting an 8-iron into 6 feet for bird-ie on the final hole for a 6-under 66 and a two-shot lead, the first step in his bid to win another green jacket.

Jason Day couldn’t keep pace. On the verge of tying for the lead late in the round Thursday, Day

dropped five shots in three holes and had to settle for a 72. Rory McIlroy pulled to within two shots of the lead until he made two bo-geys over the last three holes.

When a day of big wind, big num-bers and far too many putts for Ernie Els was finally over, it felt as though nothing had changed from last year.

Spieth is the man to beat at the Masters.

He was atop the leaderboard for the fifth straight round, and he has had at least a share of the lead in six of the last seven rounds at the Masters. One more and he matches the longest streak since Arnold Palmer in 1960 and the opening two rounds of 1961.

And just like last year, now it’s time for the rest of the field to try to catch him.

“We’re through one round,” Spieth said. “There’s going to be a

First Round LeaderboardJordan Spieth 33-33—66 -6Danny Lee 35-33—68 -4Shane Lowry 31-37—68 -4Paul Casey 34-35—69 -3Justin Rose 34-35—69 -3Ian Poulter 34-35—69 -3Soren Kjeldsen 37-32—69 -3Sergio Garcia 37-32—69 -3Billy Horschel 36-34—70 -2Scott Piercy 33-37—70 -2Danny Willett 34-36—70 -2Rory McIlroy 34-36—70 -28 golfers tied at -1

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

During the NBA scouting process, Jaron Blossomgame hopes to prove to scouts he can play on the perimeter.

Blossomgame eager to hear scouts’ verdict

BY ROBBIE TINSLEYTHE JOURNAL

CLEMSON — Jaron Blossomgame says it’s his dream to play in the NBA.

But he’s still a long way from knowing whether he’ll get that chance this year or the next.

Blossomgame is current-ly wrapping up his senior year of academic work at Clemson, while preparing

to work out in front of pro teams in a couple weeks.

However, the Tiger basketball team’s leading scorer from the 2015-16 season could still return for his final year of college eligibility on the hardwood if he doesn’t like the draft verdict, thanks to a new NCAA rule which allows players to go through work-outs while maintaining college eligibility.

Despite playing most of his basketball in the post for the Tigers, Blos-somgame feels like his best position at the next level is the three — along the perimeter or the wing. The lack of time spent at his future position is making it difficult for draft advi-sors to put a projection on where he could be selected in June’s NBA draft.

“A lot of teams haven’t

seen me play on the perim-eter or on the wing, because most of my time here I played around the rim or 15 feet away from the basket.” Blossomgame told The Jour-

nal on Thursday. “They don’t have a good feel for me because they haven’t seen enough of me (on the perimeter) yet.”

Tiger out to prove he can excel on perimeter

Blossomgame

Defending champ takes early 2-shot lead

SEE BLOSSOMGAME, PAGE C3

Big inning, Molloseau lead Lady ‘Cats to win

BY J.D. ELLIOTTTHE JOURNAL

WALHALLA — The Seneca High School softball team has had trouble scoring runs of late, so head coach Rick Pate decided to make it the focal point of prac-tice on Wednesday.

The move paid off, as the Bobcats rode a four-run fourth inning to beat Walhalla 5-1 on Thursday evening in Walhalla.

“We manufactured a few runs, and we worked hard on it yesterday,” Pate said. “Our bats have been a little slow here of late. Pitching is getting better, but you have to be able to score runs.”

After the Razors (8-10, 3-6 Western 3A) scored a run in the bottom of the first, the ‘Cats (10-8, 5-4) responded in the top of the second.

Addie Pate singled to begin the frame, followed by a single by Jasmine Morse to advance Pate to third, and Morse was able to take second on the throw. Natalie Windham executed a bunt to score Pate from third, and as the Razors unsuccessful-ly tried to get Windham at first, Morse was able to sneak home as well. As the throw went to the plate, Windham ad-vanced to second.

After a lineout to short, Jess Sparks bunt-ed for a hit and Wind-ham went to third, as the ball was thrown to the plate to hold Wind-ham at third, Sparks advanced to second. Windham

scored on a wild pitch, and Sparks was brought in by a Michaela Preusz groundout for the fourth run in the inning.

“We’ve been playing well here lately, but today we didn’t play our ball game,” Wal-halla head coach Rob-bie Morris said. They took advantage of some situations the way that they should have. We just have to keep moving forward.”

Meanwhile, Seneca starting pitcher Maria Molloseau was flaw-less after allowing an unearned run in the first inning, going the distance while scatter-ing four hits. She also walked three, recording five strikeouts.

“I was spinning the ball and hitting my spots,” Molloseau said.

SEE MOLLOSEAU, PAGE C3

SEE SPIETH, PAGE C4

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Saturday, October 24, 2015 The Journal C1

SportSSportSSports Editor: Robbie Tinsley | [email protected] | 864-882-2385Sports Writer: JD Elliott | [email protected] | 864-882-2386

BACK TO BACK Cain’s dash helps Royals clinch 2nd AL pennant in a row, another trip to World Series. C6

INSIDEMLB C3NFL C4NBA C5

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| HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL |

BY ERIC SPROTTTHE JOURNAL

SENECA — For a program that prides itself on its football tradition, it had been a painfully long time since the Seneca High School football team had claimed a championship.

But on Friday night, it didn’t take long for the Bobcats to start celebrating their first Western 3A region championship in nearly two decades, as they raced out in a hurry and never looked back in a 56-6 butchering of West-Oak at Tom Bass Field.

In securing their first region crown since 1996, the Bobcats (9-0, 6-0 Western 3A) jumped out to a 35-0 first-quarter lead over the Warriors (0-9, 0-6) and held a com-manding 56-0 halftime advantage,

as the championship was secured for all intents and purposes in the game’s opening moments.

“They’ve worked, they really have, and these kids weren’t even born the last time a region champi-onship was won here,” Seneca coach Brett Turner said. “They’ve been dreaming about this moment for quite some time, so it’s just a special night.

“I’m so thankful to be able to work with these kids and be a part of it. This is great for this commu-nity, the school and these kids. It’s just a special time.”

PHOTOS BY REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Seneca senior wide receiver Daquan Mackey celebrates the Bobcats’ region-clinching 56-6 win over West-Oak on Friday at Tom Bass Field.

JOSHUA S. KELLY | THE JOURNAL

Daniel wide receiver C.J. Scott dives for the endzone during the Lions’ game against Walhalla on Friday night at Razorback Stadium. Scott’s 42-yard first-quarter score was part of a 49-0 rout.

Earnhardt looking

for big run to continue Cup hopes

BY JENNA FRYERASSOCIATED PRESS

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. has struggled in the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs and needs a good run at Talladega Superspeedway to avoid elimination in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Luckily for Earnhardt, he’s pretty good at Talladega.

And he’s head-ed into Sunday’s race with a proven car.

The No. 88 Chevrolet that Earnhardt will race Sunday

won a qualifying race at Daytona in February, won here in May, then won at Daytona again in July. A fourth win in the car will automatically move him into the eight-man third round of the Chase.

Still, he’s not exactly breathing easy.

“It’s real intense, there’s no denying the intensity and the pressure it puts on drivers like myself to be in a cutoff situation where you’re eliminated if things don’t go perfectly on Sun-day,” Earnhardt said Friday.

Earnhardt is 11th in the 12-driver field after sub-par races in the second round. He finished 28th at Charlotte and was 21st — lowest of all Chase drivers — last week at Kansas.

But Talladega is his track, and the crowd will be firmly behind him.

They root for him in these grandstands like no other driver, and the roar when he charges to the front can make the ground shake. Earnhardt is a six-time win-ner at Talladega — tied for most among active drivers with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon — so having this track play such a big role in his title chances gives him confidence.

Earnhardt noted Sunday that there’s no other track than Talladega that he’d rather be at this week facing elimination.

“We’ve won here this year and we’ve ran good and won at Daytona over the last several years,” he said. “So when we come to all the plate tracks, we feel confident we can do well and feel confident in the car. The confidence that you have in the car is really where it all stems from.”

He sits at the bottom of the standings with Kyle Bus-ch (ninth), Ryan Newman (10th) and Matt Kenseth (12th). Busch was in solid position this race a year ago — he was second in the standings — only to be caught up in a wreck and eliminated.

So no one heads into Sun-day feeling safe, and only Joey Logano has earned the automatic berth into the third round. Logano won the last two races — he had contact last week at Kansas with Kenseth that spun Kenseth out of the lead, and denied Kenseth an auto-matic berth into the third round.

“There are certainly going to be some people that race scared and racing scared, to me, means sometimes you race not to win, but to not lose as far as the points are concerned,” said Brad Kesel-owski, who is seventh in the standings.

Batson, Lions throw past Walhalla in shutout

BY J.D. ELLIOTTTHE JOURNAL

WALHALLA — The Daniel High School football team op-erated as a well-oiled machine both offensively and defensively in a 49-0 rout of Walhalla Friday night at Razorbacks Stadium.

The Lions (4-5, 4-2 Western 3A) had no problem moving the ball against the Razors (1-8, 0-6), but self-inflicted wounds plagued Daniel throughout the contest.

On the opening drive of the night, quarterback Ben Batson fumbled the ball on the Wal-halla 4-yard line at the tail end of a 30-yard run. After a quick three-and-out forced by the defense, Batson took advantage of the ensuing possession, hit-ting Will Swinney for a 16-yard touchdown to begin the scoring.

On the next three possessions,

Batson found three different receivers for touch-downs — Carter Groomes, C.J. Scott and Swinney — to continue the aerial assault.

“We felt we saw some things in the passing game off film, so we wanted to throw it around and make some plays, and it was one of those things that snowballed,” Daniel head coach

Randy Robinson said. “We hit a couple pass plays, and some other things opened up. It was a good night offensively.”

As has happened so often this season, the only thing that could hurt Daniel was Daniel.

Seneca routs Warriors, brings home first region title since 1996

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‘CATS SCRATCH 19-YEAR ITCH

Seneca head coach Brett Turner hugs senior offensive lineman Rasheem Simpson after Simpson and teammates dumped water on the coach after the Bobcats’ win over West-Oak. SEE SENECA, PAGE C7

SEE LIONS, PAGE C7

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015 The Journal C1

SportSSportSSports Editor: Robbie Tinsley | [email protected] | 864-882-2385Sports Writer: J.D. Elliott | [email protected] | 864-882-2386

SNAKE EYES Colts’ Luck ruled out for 2 to 6 weeks with multiple injuries. C4

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| COLLEGE FOOTBALL |

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SPORTSILLUSTRATED, ASSOCIATED PRESS AND REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

From left, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson will be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, Buf-falo Bills head coach Rex Ryan wore a Clemson helmet for his Tuesday news conference and offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain jokes with Vice President Joe Biden after introducing him for a speech on Clemson’s campus.

BY ROBBIE TINSLEYTHE JOURNAL

CLEMSON — An NFL coach donned a Clemson helmet for his Tuesday news conference and gave tremendous praise to the Tigers and their coaching staff.

For the second time ever, a Clem-son player will be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, as the famed magazine revealed its re-gional front page for its next issue with quarterback Deshaun Watson striking a Heisman pose.

Vice President Joe Biden was told by a Clemson offensive line-

man to expect the Tigers at the White House in January. Biden laughed and replied, “I can’t wait to see you.”

It’s the sternest test to date for a program that’s built itself on canceling out the noise and taking things one game at a time.

“It’s great to get this attention, but we just need to understand that if we lose one game, it’s all gone,” senior offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain.

“These are probably the biggest distractions Clemson’s ever had to deal with in a season,” he added. “With all the attention comes great responsibility.”

On the back of clinching the ACC Atlantic Division title with a 23-13 win over Florida State and with three seemingly routine games to go until the conference champion-ship game — starting with a trip to

Out of nowhere, Knox a Ryder Cup candidate

BY DOUG FERGUSONASSOCIATED PRESS

SHANGHAI — Russell Knox was the center of attention after winning the HSBC Champions, and not just with the sponsors.

After his press confer-ence, he posed with four flight attendants from Emirates Airlines. Next up was a photo with the owner and executive staff of Casillero del Di-ablo, which supplied the wine for the week.

When he sat back down to sign flags and caps for HSBC, another man approached whom Knox did not recognize.

“Hello, Russell. I’m Keith Waters with the European Tour.”

Waters is the chief operating officer, and he was equipped with all the answers Knox did not know and was too overwhelmed to ask at the moment — mainly, the process of becoming a European Tour mem-ber and how that relates to the Ryder Cup.

Sensing that the 30-year-old from Scotland was still trying to digest his first big win — a World Golf Champion-ship, no less — Waters gave him a business card with his mobile number and told him he would be available any time. And there was one more thing.

“Also just so you know, Darren Clarke is going to be calling you,” Wa-ters said.

“We’ll be in touch for sure,” Knox replied with a grin.

Clarke is the Europe-an captain for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. Odds are, he has been on the phone with Matthew Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pieters and any other European who appears to have even a remote chance of qualifying.

To be realistic, Knox barely has that.

Is he interested in the Ryder Cup? Of course. Even though he has lived in Florida his entire pro-fessional life, he grew up in Inverness and is proud of his Scottish heritage. His sister, Diane, is a pop-ular radio DJ in Scotland.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a goal of mine to make the European Ry-der Cup team, and this obviously springboards me to a place where ... I mean, yesterday I was nowhere near it,” Knox said. “I have no idea where I stand on making the team or what I need to do. But I look forward to finding out and giving it a run, that’s for sure.”

Much will depend on

what European Tour chief Keith Pelley an-nounces next week in Dubai on a new member-ship policy.

One of the options is to require a minimum of five European Tour events (down from 13), but that number would not include the majors or WGCs. So it really would be no change at all, ex-cept for making it practi-cal for players who have slipped out of the top 50 — such as Luke Donald and Graeme McDow-ell — and no longer are automatically eligible for the eight biggest events in world golf.

For Knox, that would mean adding four tournaments to what he already plays.

Knox played 99 times on either the PGA Tour or the Web.com Tour be-fore making his Europe-an Tour debut last year in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart, not far from where he grew up. He played his first Brit-ish Open this year — he was the alternate who replaced Rory McIlroy when he tore up his an-kle playing soccer.

Knox was the only player keeping the third round from being com-pleted Saturday evening at Sheshan International because he thought it was too dark to play the final hole. That led some in the British press to joking-ly refer to him as the “American” because of the minor inconvenience. When he returned the next morning and made birdie, and then never lost the lead on Sunday, he became a Scot again.

It was all in good fun, but to be fair, only the diligent golf press in the U.K. knew much about Knox, and for good reason. This was his first win on any of the six main tours around the world. Knox had never been remotely close to the top 50 in the world until he won the HSBC Cham-pions and shot all the way up to No. 31. Now he’s the 10th-highest European in the world ranking.

He is guaranteed two majors (Masters, PGA Championship) and a WGC, and he’s likely to get in the other two WGCs. Whether he takes up European Tour mem-bership and makes a run at the Ryder Cup, Knox ultimately concluded that “it’s a great problem to have.”

Besides, it beats the alternative.

“I always joked with my caddie that if I ever won,” he said, “I was going to retire.”

REX BROWN | THE JOURNAL

Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson eludes defend-ers during the Tigers’ 23-13 victory over Florida State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Notre Dame moved into the top four in the second College Football Playoff selection com-mittee rankings of the season Tuesday night.

Clemson remained No. 1, with Alabama moving up two spots to No. 2, Ohio State staying at No. 3 and the Fighting Irish up a spot to No. 4.

If the season ended to-day, Clemson and Notre Dame would reprise their Oct. 3 matchup in the national semifinal. The

Tigers won that game 24-22 thanks to a last-second

stop on an Irish two-point conversion

attempt.Unbeaten

Iowa received an eye-catching promotion, rising four spots to No. 5.

Baylor is the high-est-ranked Big 12 team at No. 6.

Two previously unbeaten teams tum-

bled. LSU, No. 2 last week, dropped to No. 9 after losing at Alabama, and Michigan State, which was No. 7 before suffering a late loss to Nebraska, dropped to No. 13.

Clemson still atop CFP rankings; slated for

Notre Dame rematch

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Russell Knox hits a shot during the final round of the HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, on Sunday.

Time, chances running out for Shawn ElliottBY PETE IACOBELLI

ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA — Shawn Elliott and the South Car-olina Gamecocks know time is running out, both on the season and the chance for the interim coach to make a case for the permanent job.

The Gamecocks (3-6, 1-6 Southeastern) look to end a two-game losing streak when they play No. 11 Florida (8-1, 6-1) at home Saturday.

Elliott likes the im-provement he’s seen and the uptick in attitude the past two weeks at Texas A&M and Tennessee. The bottom line, though, was a pair of close losses

instead of resume-build-ing wins.

Elliott believes the breakthrough is coming soon with what he’s seen from the Gamecocks.

“When you look at us the last two weeks, three weeks, you go Vanderbilt, A&M and Tennessee, we’ve stacked up pretty well,” Elliott said Tuesday. “We haven’t gotten over the hump, but you know we’re knocking on the door, and some-body’s going to answer it shortly.”

Time is running out on Elliott’s candidacy.

Athletic director Ray Tanner said when coach Steve Spurrier resigned in October that Elliott would be given a chance to get the job. The former offensive line coach had a satisfying debut in a 19-10 win over Vanderbilt on Oct. 17, which was also the school’s first home game after the massive flooding

in South Carolina that affected many around campus and in the stands that day.

The Gamecocks kept things close on the road the past two games, but the effort didn’t result in a win. The most heart-breaking defeat was last week, when tight end Jerell Adams fumbled a late catch as he was fight-ing for additional yard-age with South Carolina driving for the goal line.

Elliott believes in the approach of a steady pro-gression of getting better, fixing the issues that plagued the Gamecocks in their 0-4 SEC start —

SEE GAMECOCKS, PAGE C3

SEE TIGERS, PAGE C3

Distractions near-deafening for No. 1 Tigers | UP NEXT |

Who: at SyracuseWhen: Saturday,

3:30 p.m.TV: ABC/WLOS-TV 13Radio: WCCP 105.5 FMLine: Clemson -27.5

| UP NEXT |

Who: FloridaWhen:

Saturday, noon

Where: Columbia

TV: SECNRadio: WSNW 94.1 FMLine: Florida -8

Elliott

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