Clemson, S.C.— Clemson will be one of 17 teams competing for the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate championship next Monday and Tuesday, March 11-12, at the Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken, SC. The 17 teams will play 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday on the par 70 course that is 6617 yards in length.
Clemson and Virginia are the only two ACC schools in the field, while state rival South Carolina also will be competing. The field also includes host school USC Aiken, traditionally one of the top Division II programs in the nation.
This will be Clemson’s first appearance at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate since 2014 when Clemson won the tournament for the third time in five years. This will be Clemson’s eight appearance overall and the Tigers have finished in the top three in six of the previous seven.
The Tigers are ranked 14th by the Golf Coaches Poll, 13th by Golfstat an 14th by Golfweek entering this weekend’s play.
The Tigers are led by Ben Hogan Award candidate Bryson Nimmer, who already has three wins this year, including co-medalist honors at his most recent tournament, the Puerto Rico Classic. Nimmer, who is ninth in the nation in the latest Golfweek rankings, has a 69.00 stroke average, among the top 15 averages in the nation. He already has 12-under-par rounds and 10 rounds in the 60s.
Nimmer remained in Puerto Rico after the college tournament to play in the Puerto Rico Open on the PGA Tour as an amateur and he finished 47th. He had two rounds of 69, the first Clemson golfer to score two rounds in the 60s in a PGA Tour event as an amateur.
Jacob Bridgeman won the individual tournament at the Puerto Rico Classic with a score of four under par 209 and will be in the Clemson lineup for the Palmetto. Bridgeman has he second best stroke average on the team 71.06 and he has a streak of three consecutive top 10 finishes.
Freshman Zack Gordon is coming off a seventh place finish at Puerto Rico and has a strong 71.27 stroke average for the year. Gordon is 11 under par for his last two tournaments and already has three top 15 finishes this year.
Turk Pettit and William Nottingham also will be in the Clemson lineup. Both had to go through qualifying to get in the lineup for this tournament. Pettit has a 72.00 stroke average for the year, while Nottingham is at 71.89.
Live scoring for the tournament will be available on golfstat.com
