Clemson, SC—The Clemson men’s golf team will open play at the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship on Friday at the Charlotte Country Club in Charlotte, NC. The 12 ACC teams will compete in stroke play Friday through Sunday, April 19-21, with the teams playing 18 holes per day. The top four teams after the 54 holes of stroke play will advance to the Match Play Championship. Both the semifinals and the finals will be played on Monday, April 22.
The ACC is once again a strong conference in men’s golf with five of the teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation. The group is led by third ranked North Carolina and sixth ranked Florida State. The other schools that will compete for the championship are Virginia, Georgia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Louisville, Clemson, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.
Twelve of the top 61 players in the latest spikemark.com national rankings are from the ACC with the highest ranked player being Luke Clanton of Florida State, who is ranked second.
Clemson has won the ACC Championship 11 times, including 2021 when the Tigers defeated Florida State in the match play championship, 3-2. Clemson also won the title in 1982, 1987 1988, 1990 (co champs), 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2016 when the title was based solely on stroke play.
Clemson golfers have won medalist honors eight times by seven different golfers. Charles Warren, the champion in 1997 and 1998, is the only two time winner. Clemson’s last individual ACC champion was Jacob Bridgeman in 2022.
Bridgeman is currently on the PGA Tour and will be one of 10 former Clemson golfer playing in PGA Tour events this weekend.
Clemson’s lineup will be composed of three seniors, a junior and a sophomore. Three of the five have played in the ACC Championship previously.
The Tigers are led by senior Jonathan Nielsen, who has a 70.82 stroke average with 11 rounds in the 60s, 16 under-par rounds and a team best 111 birdies. The native of Denmark has five top eighth finishes this year, including three of his last five tournaments. He finished third at The Goodwin and sixth at the Linger Longer within the last month. Nielsen has been Clemson’s top golfer in each of the last three tournaments.
Thomas Higgins, a sophomore from Ireland, will be in the number-two spot in the order. Higgins has a 72.86 stroke average for the year with a pair of top 10 finishes, including a fourth place at Briar’s Creek where he helped Clemson to the team…
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