Clemson Tied for Second after First Round at Watersound

Round 1 Team Results
Round 1 Individual Results

CLEMSON, S.C. — All five Clemson golfers shot even-par or better on Monday to lead Clemson to a 283 team score and a tie for second after the first round of the Watersound Invitational at Shark’s Tooth Golf Club in Panama City, Fla.

It marked the first time this year that all five Clemson golfers shot even-par or better in the same round.  Clemson was the only school in the 12-team tournament to have all five of its golfers score par or better on Monday.

Clemson’s five-under-par score of 283 is tied for second with 18th ranked Mississippi State and just five shots behind first-place Vanderbilt, the number-three ranked team in the nation entering this week.

The field includes six of the top 20 teams in the nation.  The Tigers are currently ahead of #10 Virginia, #11 Alabama, #12 Georgia Tech and #13 Florida State, the host school for the three-day 54 hole tournament that will be played on the par 72 Shark’s Tooth course that is 7246 yards.

All five Clemson golfers are in the top 25 of the 75-player field after 18 holes.  Leading the way is Jonathan Nielsen, who had a three-under-par 69, a round that included six birdies, tied for second most in the field.  Nielsen, who has the top stroke average on the Clemson team this year, played the last three holes in two-under par.  He shot a 34 on the back nine, best among the Tigers.  He stands in a tie for fifth place after the first round.

Alberto Dominguez shot a two-under-par 70  in the opening round thanks to five birdies and three bogeys.   He had three consecutive birdies on holes 13, 14 and 15.  He shot one-under par 35 on each nine and stands in ninth place after the opening round.

Andrew Swanson, Thomas Higgins and Kian Rose all had rounds of even par 72 and are tied for 25th individually. Swanson, who is coming off a second-place finish at the Battle at Briar’s Creek, had four birdies, and was the only Tiger to birdie the difficult par four 18th hole.

Higgins had three birdies and three bogeys on Monday in recording  his seventh round at par or better this year.  Higgins is coming off a fourth-place finish at Briar’s Creek.   Rose had nine hole scores of 36-36 in recording his even-par score.

Calahan Keevers is playing the tournament as an individual and had score of four over par 76 in the opening round.

The tournament continues on Tuesday and Wednesday with live scoring available on golfstat.com.