CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson will be one of 10 teams who played in the 2024 NCAA National Championship tournament in the field for this weekend’s Valero Texas Collegiate at the TPC San Antonio. There will be 15 teams in the field overall, eight from the SEC, three from the ACC and one from the Big 12.
The field includes host schools Texas-San Antonio and SMU, North Florida, Clemson, Virginia, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and TCU. Auburn is the defending NCAA Champion.
This will be the second of three consecutive tournaments on PGA Tour courses for Jordan Byrd’s team. Clemson opened the season at Inverness in Toledo, Ohio, the site of six professional majors.
This week’s tournament is at the TPC San Antonio, the yearly site of the Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour. The medalist at this weekend’s college event will be extended an invitation to the April 3-6, 2025 Valero Texas Open.
Clemson’s next event is October 7-8, the Barbara Nicklaus Cup at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, the site of the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament.
Clemson will bring a lineup that includes two seniors, one junior and two freshmen for the 54-hole tournament that will run Saturday-Monday with 18 holes played each day.
The Tigers are led by seniors Kian Rose and Andrew Swanson. Rose had a 70.67 stroke average in the first tournament of the year, the Inverness Collegiate. He led the tournament in birdies with 14. This will be Rose’s 30th career event. Swanson will be making his 28th tournament appearance for the Tigers. He was Clemson’s top golfer at the NCAA National Championship last year with an 18th place finish.
Thomas Higgins is a junior from Ireland who will make his first start of the year in the Clemson lineup. He had a 72.00 average as an individual at the Inverness Collegiate to finish 50th. Last year, Higgins shot a 63 in the second round of the NCAA Regional at Chapel Hill and finished 14th for the event. That 63 tied a Clemson record for an NCAA Tournament round.
Colin Salema and Rich Walls are the two freshmen in the Clemson lineup. Salema shot a 216 in his first tournament at Inverness, while Walls was at 221. They are the first freshmen pair to start the first two tournaments of a season since 2017.
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