Clemson, SC—Calahan Keever remained in first place in the individual race, and the Clemson team was in second place when play was halted early in the third and final round of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional at the Finley Course on the University of North Carolina campus on Tuesday.
Thomas Higgins and teammate Jonathan Nielsen were able to finish their respective second rounds early Tuesday morning, but the 13-team field was only able to play a few holes until inclement weather forced play to end in the afternoon.
East Tennessee will have a three-shot lead over Clemson when play is scheduled to resume at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The Bucs are at 23-under-par and Clemson at 20-under-par. Host school North Carolina stands at 19-under—par and in third place, while Georgia Tech and Baylor are tied for fifth at 11-under-par.
Long Beach State is sixth at 10-under-par, while ninth ranked Alabama is in seventh place at seven-under. The top five teams after completion of 54 holes will advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament in Carlsbad California late next week.
Early Tuesday morning Higgins played his last three holes of the second round at one-under par to finish with a round of seven-under 63, the lowest round in Clemson history in an NCAA Tournament. Nielsen finished with a 69 and it gave the Tigers a second round team score of 266, 14-under-par. It is the best total score and score vs. par in any NCAA Tournament round in Clemson history.
Keever had finished with a 130 score for his first two rounds, 10-under par and that stood in first place in the medalist race when play was halted Monday night. He played just two holes on Tuesday morning and played those two holes at one under-par, making him 11 under for the tournament. He still has a one-shot lead entering Wednesday’s play.
Nielsen was also one under par for two holes for his third round, and stood in ninth place individually, while Higgins was one under through three holes and was in 13th place. Andrew Swanson was two over par through four holes and Alberto Dominguez was four over through five holes in his final round.
..