Clemson, S.C.—Fresh off its first team win of the season, the Clemson men’s golf team heads to Palm City, Florida for the Valspar Collegiate at The Floridian this weekend. The competition will begin with 36 holes on Monday, March 15 and conclude with 18 holes on March 16th on the par 71 course.
Clemson will be among 15 teams in the field that will include 11 teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation according to at least one of the ranking services. The field will include five of the top 10 teams in the nation according to Golfstat, as number-one Florida State, third-ranked Wake Forest, fourth-ranked Pepperdine and sixth-ranked Texas A&M will join the ninth-ranked Tigers.
The field also includes Vanderbilt (14), Auburn (16), Arkansas (21) and LSU (24). Florida, ranked 16th in the latest Coaches Poll and South Carolina, 23rd according to Golfweek also will be in the field. Houston, Marquette, Duke and South Florida round out one of the top fields of the spring season.
Clemson is coming off a victory at the Palmetto Intercollegiate, the 80th victory of head coach Larry Penley’s career. Jacob Bridgeman won the event with an 11-under-par 199 score, his second win of the year, and third victory over his last four tournaments dating to last year.
Bridgeman is ranked second in the nation in the latest Golfweek ranking and third according to Golfstat off a season that has featured a 67.56 stroke average and nine consecutive under-par rounds. He has finished in the top 10 of all three of his tournaments and has scored under par in all nine of his rounds.
Bridgeman was one of 15 players named to the Fred Haskins Award Watch List on Friday and is also a strong candidate to be named to the United States Palmer Cup team.
Turk Pettit will return to the Clemson lineup after participating in Mackenzie Tour (Canadian Tour) qualifying this week. Pettit has a 70.67 average for the Tigers for six rounds and has finished in the top 10 in each of his events.
William Nottingham has a 71.11 stroke average for nine rounds and is coming off a 12th place finish at the Palmetto. He had an opening-round 64 that included six birdies without a bogey, the second-best score of his career. This will be the red-shirt senior’s 41st career tournament.
Colby Patton is fourth on the team in stroke average with a strong 71.33 figure. He was Clemson’s top golfer in the final round of the Palmetto with 67. He has four rounds in the 60s and five-under-par rounds so far this season.
Kyle Cottam has a 71.56 average through three events and is coming off his first top 10 of the season at the Palmetto where he shot a 208 for 54 holes. Cottam has four rounds in the 60s this year.
Live scoring will be available at golfstat.com.
