CLEMSON, S.C. — All five Clemson golfers finished in the top 15 to lead Clemson to a five-shot victory at the Palmetto Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate on Tuesday. The event was shortened to 36 holes after poor weather allowed the 15-team field to play just 11 of a scheduled 36 holes on Monday.
The victory was the first of the year for the Tigers, who will next be in action March 27-29 at The Goodwin Intercollegiate at The TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. It marked the fourth time Clemson had won the Palmetto Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate in the last five years and the 11th time in the history of the event.
“It was a team effort,” said Head Coach Jordan Byrd. “Everyone was in the game all day and that was good to see.”
“The weather was as bad as I have seen on Monday, but it was much nicer today and suitable for scoring. Andrew Swanson got up and down all day. It wasn’t his best ball striking day, but he made a lot of five and six footers to shoot 67,
“Lucas Augustsson’s 68 in the first round was extraordinary. He had one bad hole this morning when he was unlucky with his tee shot on 17 and the ball hit a tree and bounced into a hazard. But he came back strong to finish that round at 68, then was solid in the second round.”
The weather was much improved on Tuesday on the par 70 Palmetto Golf Club course in Aiken, S.C. Clemson improved by 15 shots over its first round and four of the five Tigers shot par or better in the second round. All 15 teams had better team scores in the second round compared with their first.
Clemson won the event with a score of three-over-par 563 after shooting a six-under-par 274 in the second round, the best team round of the tournament. Host school USC Aiken finished second at 568, while Campbell was third at 571 and East Carolina was fourth at 583. Virginia Tech was the only other ACC team in the field and the Hokies finished eighth at 604.
All five Clemson golfers finished in the top 15 of the 75-player tournament. It was the first time five Tigers finished in the top 15 of any tournament since the 2014 Hummingbird Invitational, which had a 12-team field. It marked the first time all five Tigers finished in the top 15 of a tournament that had at least 15 teams since the 1999 Puerto Rico Classic. That 1999 team included future PGA Tour players John Engler, Lucas Glover and Jonathan Byrd.
Clemson was led on Tuesday by Swanson who had a three-under par 67, senior Kian Rose with a 68 and Thomas Higgins with a…
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