CLEMSON, S.C. — Seniors Thomas Higgins and Lucas Augustsson will lead a veteran lineup in Clemson’s season opening tournament in Myrtle Beach September 7-9. Clemson will be one of 16 teams in the field for the Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate that will be held at the Grande Dunes Golf Resort. Teams will play 18 holes a day, Sunday through Tuesday.
The tournament will mark the first time Clemson has opened the season in the state of South Carolina since the 1997-98 academic year when the season opener was at the Palmetto Classic on Kiawah Island.
Higgins and Augustsson are the only two seniors in Jordan Byrd’s lineup, but the other three players have plenty of Division I experience. The Tigers will have junior Oscar Holm-Bredkjaer, a transfer from the University of San Francisco, and sophomores Rich Wills and Colin Salema, starters on last year’s Clemson team.
Holm-Bredkjaer comes to Clemson after an outstanding year at San Francisco in 2024-25 where he was an honorable mention All-West Coast Conference selection. He had three top 10 finishes to end last year and shot under par in eight of his last nine rounds of the year. He finished ninth at the WCC Tournament. He won the Dutch Junior Open for the second straight year this past July.
Holm-Bredkjaer led Midlands Community College to a number-three national finish at the National Junior College Championships in 2023-24. He was named the Phil Mickelson Award winner as the National Freshman of the Year at the Division I Junior College level that year.
Holm-Bredkjaer will play the number-one position in the Clemson lineup for the opening tournament after winning the team qualifying tournament with a 72-hole score of 275.
Higgins had the second best score in the team qualifying tournament with a 276 score. The senior from Ireland had a strong summer playing overseas. He had a 73.57 stroke average last year when he played eight tournaments.
Rich Wills will be the number-three man in the order. The Cramerton, N.C. native had a solid freshman year with a 73.19 stroke average in playing all 10 tournaments in the Clemson lineup. His best performance was a fourth place finish at Briar’s Creek.
Colin Salema had a strong summer as he won the Carolinas Open and finished second at the Monroe Amateur, one of the top national amateur events in the country. The native of Matthews, N.C. had a 73.55 average as a freshman last season.
Lucas Augustsson has the top stroke average among returning players from last year’s Clemson team with a 72,48 average for his 29 rounds. His top performance was a third place finish at the Palmetto.
Freshman Jackson Byrd will compete as an individual. The son of former Clemson All-American and current PGA player Jonathan Byrd was a first-team AJGA All-American and has competed in the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior President’s Cup the last two years.
