Women's Golf Selected Sixth In Golf World/NGCA Preseason Poll - AuburnTigers.com

Women's Golf Selected Sixth In Golf World/NGCA Preseason Poll Senior Cydney Clanton tabbed as top

Cydney Clanton

Sept. 1, 2010

AUBURN - The Auburn women's golf team will enter its 2010-11 season ranked sixth in the nation according to the preseason Golf World/NGCA Coaches' Poll, the magazine announced Wednesday. Senior Cydney Clanton has also been selected as the No. 1 player in Golf World's "Top 50 Female Players to Watch" list.

The Tigers received 651 points in the preseason poll and are the second-ranked SEC team behind No. 4 Alabama. NCAA runner-up Southern California enters the season ranked No. 1, followed by cross-town rival UCLA at No. 2. Defending NCAA champion Purdue checks in at No. 3, followed by Alabama and Duke.

Rounding out the top 10 of the opening poll are Auburn, Arizona, Wake Forest, Virginia and Vanderbilt. In all, there are eight Southeastern Conference teams in the top 25, with Tennessee (No. 12), Georgia (No. 13), LSU (No. 16), Florida (No. 19) and South Carolina (No. 22) rounding out the list.

"We a lot of good experience coming back this season and I believe this poll shows a lot of respect for where our program is and what we are capable of," said Kim Evans, who is entering her 17th season as Auburn's head coach. "We return four of our top five players from last season and add three very talented freshmen, so I'm really excited about the opportunities that are out there for us."

Clanton, a native of Concord, N.C., leads an Auburn team that returns four of five players from its NCAA Championship roster in 2010. She is coming off a season in which she notched two individual wins while checking in with an Auburn-record 71.45 stroke average.

Clanton also put together a successful summer in which she helped the United States to a win in the 2010 Curtis Cup, posting a 2-0-1 record. She followed up with a victory at the North & South Women's Amateur and quarterfinal appearances at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and the U.S. Women's Amateur. Currently ranked as the No. 2 amateur golfer in the nation, according to the Golfweek/Titleist Women's Amateur Rankings, she was selected to represent the United States at the 2010 World Amateur Team Championship in October.

The Tigers are set to open the 2010-11 season at the NCAA Fall Preview, Sept. 13-15, at the Traditions Club at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. The Tigers will take on 18 of the best teams in college golf, including Alabama, Arizona State, UCLA, Duke, Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, Pepperdine, Purdue, Southern California, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest.