Clemson, S.C.—Four of the five players who led Clemson to the team championship last year will be in the lineup for Larry Penley’s team at the Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Grande, PR. The tournament will run Sunday to Tuesday, Feb. 17-19 at the par 71 River Course at Rio Mar Country club.
Bryson Nimmer, Turk Pettit, Colby Patton and Kyle Cottam will comprise four of the five starters for the Tigers at the 14-team tournament that features schools from eight different conferences. Freshman Zack Gordon will be the only newcomer to tournament that dates for the spring of 1993.
Clemson has actually won the Puerto Rico Classic each of the last two years. Clemson won in 2017 with an 845 score, then won last February with an 854 total. The Tigers also won the team championship in 1999.
Pettit led Clemson last year with a second-place finish with a 208 score, five-under-par. He had consistent rounds of 69-69-70. Patton also finished in the top 10 with a seventh place standing after a 213 total. Nimmer finished 21st at 217 and Cottam was 52nd at 226. As a team, Clemson had consistent scores of 284-286-284.
The 10th ranked Tigers are led by Nimmer with a 68.80 stroke average, the 10th best stroke average in the nation through the completion of the fall. He already has two wins and four top 10 finishes, nine rounds in the 60s and 10 rounds under par. His 195 at the Maui Jim Invitational set a Clemson record for a 54-hole tournament.
Pettit has a 69.83 stroke average for his four events. He was Clemson’s top player in the last two tournaments of the fall, as he finished second at the Golf Club of Georgia with a 206 total and sixth at the Ka’Anapali Classic in Hawaii with a 203 score.
Cottam had the third best stroke average of the fall with a 71.11 figure. He had five rounds at par or better and one top 10 finish. Gordon had a 71.42 stroke average for his 12 rounds. Patton, a starter on Clemson’s number-13 ranked team last year, will be playing in just his second tournament of the year.
The 14-team field includes ACC teams Clemson, NC State, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. Georgia will represent the SEC, while Iowa, Ohio State, Maryland and Purdue will represent the Big Ten. Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team in the field that also includes Marquette, East Carolina, Middle Tennessee and UNC Greensboro.
The Puerto Rico Classic also holds and individual tournament and Jacob Bridgeman and William Nottingham will participate in that event.
Live scoring will be available on golfstat.com.
