Barrientos Wins Clover Cup, Tigers Finish Second as a Team
Clemson, SC—Senior Melena Barrientos fired a final round 66 to win the Notre Dame Clover Cup at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park, Arizona on Tuesday. It was her first career victory. Her performance led Clemson to a second-place finish among the 12 teams in the field.
Eighth ranked Arizona State won the tournament with a score of 13-under par 827. Clemson was second at 831 (-9) and 16th ranked Texas A&M was third at 839, one-under par on the par 70 course. Indiana was fourth at 850 and host school Notre Dame was fifth at 855.
Barrientos became the seventh different golfer in Clemson women’s golf history to win a tournament. The native of Plano, Texas opened with a round of two-over-par 72, then shot rounds of 64 and 66 to win the event by two shots over Vanessa Borovilos of Texas A&M and Beth Coulter of Arizona State.
Barrientos’s score of eight-under-par 202 was her career best, as was her second round 64. The 64 in the second round was just one shot off the school record. Her 202 score for 54 holes was also the second best in Clemson history, topped only by a 197 score over 54 holes by Savannah Grewal at the Cougar Classic in the fall of 2023. Barrientos led the 66-player field in birdies with 16 and she also had an eagle.
“Melena has been trending in the right direction of late and we thought she was capable of this is she avoided the big score on holes,” said head coach Kelley Hester. “She did that this week and made a lot of birdies (16) and an eagle. Her ball striking was a strength. She made a lot of putts for birdie inside five-six feet.”
Barrientos’s top hole of the week was her final hole ,as she made an eagle on the 18th hole on Wednesday. After a drive in the middle of the fairway she had 220 yards to the hole on the par five hole. “At the advice of Erica (assistant coach Erica Popson) she hit a hybrid and hit it hole high to nine feet.” Barrientos then made the putt for eagle to win by two shots. She played the par five holes with a 4.33 stroke average for the tournament.
Senior Chloe Holder also had a top 10 finish for Hester’s team with rounds of 68-73-69 for an even par 210 for the 54 holes to finish eighth. It was her first top 10 of the season. Katherine Schuster had rounds of 71-68-73 to finish with a two over par score of 212 to finish 13th, while junior Sydney Roberts finished 15th with scores of 71-73-69 and a 213 total. Freshman Juliette Demeaux finished 24th with a 219 total. She struggled in the first round with a 79, but shot even par over the last 36 holes thanks to rounds of 68-72.
Ivy Schulze played the tournament as an individuals and finished 35th with a 224 score. She had her best round on Wednesday with a 72.
This week’s event marked the first time Clemson had four golfers finish in the top 15 of a tournament since winning the 2018 Houston Dixon.
Clemson returns to the course March 28-30 when the Tigers play host to the Clemson Invitational at the Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, SC.
