CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson men’s golf team will open its spring team season on Monday, Feb. 14 at the Nexus Collegiate at the Albany Golf Club in New Providence, The Bahamas. It will be the first time Clemson has played an event in The Bahamas. The field will include teams from the ACC, SEC and Big Ten and will run Feb. 14-16 with the 10 teams playing 18 holes each day.
Clemson will be one of 10 teams in the field at the 7414-yard, par 72 course that has been the home to Tiger Woods Hero Challenge December tournament for several years. The Hero Challenge is not a PGA Tour event, but an invitational that features 19 of the top players in the world. Viktor Hovland won the 2021 Tournament this past December.
Clemson will take seven players to the tournament, five who will count towards the team score, and two who will play as individuals. The Clemson team lineup will feature three seniors, a junior and a freshman.
Jacob Bridgeman will lead the Tigers at the No. 1 position. The senior had a 69.67 stroke average in the fall for his nine rounds. He had six under-par scores, including four in the 60s. That included a career best 62 at the Maui Jim Collegiate on September 11, 2021 that tied the Clemson single round record. He finished tied for ninth overall for the 54 holes, his 13th career top 10.
Kyle Cottam was actually Clemson’s top golfer at the Maui Jim with a fifth-place finish and 196 score for 54 holes. He had rounds of 64-65-67 on the way to his career best 14-under-par score that helped Clemson to a second-place team finish against a national field. Cottam is second on the team in stroke average so far this year with a 70.67 figure.
Zack Gordon is the third Clemson senior in the lineup. He had a strong 70.78 stroke average for the fall with three under-par rounds, all in the 60s. He finished with a 205 score and 24th place finish at Maui Jim.
Kian Rose is the only freshman in the Clemson team lineup this coming week. He had a team best 213 total and #23 finish at the Golf Club of Georgia Invitational back on October, the last tournament of the fall season. He played in three tournaments in the fall and posted a 71.22 stroke average.
Carter Pendley, a junior, rounds out the team lineup at the Nexus with a 73.17 stroke average for two events in the fall. Pendley’s best event in the fall was an eight-under-par 202 score at the Maui Jim, good enough for 17th place.
Head Coach Jordan Byrd will bring two players who will see action as individuals in at the Nexus Collegiate. Drayton Stewart is a sophomore from Charleston, S.C. who finished 19th at the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate last week in Statesboro, Ga. Sean Curran is a freshman from Lenox, Illinois, who finished 23rd at the same event.
Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.com beginning Monday morning.
