Hester leads fourth program to NCAA national championship tournament

Kelley Hester has done it again.

The Macon native will lead the Clemson women’s golf team into the NCAA national championship tournament coming up May 19-24 at Rich Harvest Farms Golf Club in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

Clemson will be making its first trip to the national championship tournament in the fourth season in program history. But Hester, who is in her first season at Clemson, has been there before, several times, in fact.

Clemson marks the fourth program Hester has coached to the national championship tournament, joining Furman, Arkansas and Georgia.

“This team followed the game plan the entire tournament,” Hester said on the Clemson athletics website. “We didn’t make putts like we did (Tuesday, when the team shot 282), but we were steady. We were a little nervous trying to close down the stretch, but we made it, and it feels great.”

Clemson entered the Athens Regional as the No. 10 and finished fifth. The top six teams from each regional advance to the national championship tournament.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Hester leads fourth program to NCAA national championship tournament."