CLEMSON, S.C. — Seniors Thomas Higgins and Lucas Augustsson both shot rounds of three-under par 69 on Tuesday to lead Clemson to a tie for second place out of 16 teams at the Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate at the Grande Dunes Resort Club in Myrtle Beach, SC. The second place finish tied for the best by a Clemson team in the opening tournament of a season since Clemson won the Topy Cup in Japan to open the National Championship season of 2002-03.
Florida Atlantic won the tournament with a score of 838, 26-under-par. Clemson and Florida Gulf Coast tied for second with 847 totals, 17-under par. Clemson shot even par 288 as a team in the first round and ranked in seventh place, then rallied over the last 36 holes, playing 17-under par. Jordan Byrd’s team was consistent in terms of hole scoring. The Tigers ranked second in par three scoring (3.10), third in par four scoring (4.07) and third in par five scoring (4.57).
Higgins led the way with a five-under-par 211 score for the three rounds that included scores of 69 in each of the last two rounds. He played the par five holes in nine-under-par for the tournament, a 4.25 stroke average. He had a pair of eagles in the second round to tie a Clemson record for a round, and he had a team best tying 12 birdies. The native of Ireland finished eighth overall with a 211 total, his fifth career top 10 finish. His consecutive rounds of 69 over the last 36 holes marked the first time he had consecutive rounds in the 60s in the same tournament since the 2024 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
Augustsson’s round of 69 included three birdies and 15 pars. It marked the first time the native of Sweden had a bogey free round as a Clemson golfer. He finished the tournament with 44 pars, three more than any other player in the 90-man field. Augustsson finished with an even par score of 216, 28th in the field.
Sophomore Rich Wills and San Francisco transfer Oscar Holm-Bredkjaer tied for 20th and ranked as Clemson’s next best golfers for the tournament with scores of two-under-par 214 for the 54 holes. Bredkjaer had the low round of the tournament by a Clemson golfer with a bogey free 65 in the second round. That impressive performance bracketed rounds of 75 and 74. Wills opened with a 68, then had rounds of 74-72 to finish with a top 20. He finished with 12 birdies to tie Higgins for team honors.
Colin Salema finished 25th, but was Clemson’s most consistent golfer with rounds of…
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