CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson will return to the course for the first time in 16 days when Jordan Byrd’s Tigers take part in the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate in Alpharetta, GA. The tournament will run with 18 holes played each day from Friday, October 21 through Sunday October 23. Clemson will be one of 14 teams competing for the championship on the par 72 course that measures 7,092 yards.
The national field includes seven top 25 teams, with six from the top 13 in the nation by both Golfstat and Golfweek. The field includes a Stanford team ranked fifth by Golfstat, and sixth ranked Texas A&M. Virginia is ranked seventh by Golfstat and Tennessee is ranked seventh by Golfweek. Alabama is 12th in both polls, while Georgia Tech is 13th in both.
Defending National Champion Pepperdine, ranked 19th by Golfweek, will also compete. Washington and Southern California are two more Pac 12 teams. ACC teams in the field include Clemson, Duke, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Virginia, while the SEC is represented by Alabama, Texas A&M and Tennessee.
Individually, Clemson golfers will compete against a field that includes Michael Thorjbornsen of Stanford (3rd ranked nationally), Ben James of Virginia (4th), Daniel Rodrigues of Texas A&M (6th) and Petr Ruby (14th) of Washington.
Clemson’s lineup will be led by super senior Zack Gordon, who will play the number-one position in the tee time order. Gordon has a 73.44 stroke average so far this year. Last year he had an opening round 68 at this event, the low score by a Tiger last year. He finished at one-under-par 215 for 29th place.
Jonathan Nielsen, a native of Denmark, will be playing in his fourth tournament of the year for Clemson. He has a 72.11 stroke average for nine rounds and finished ninth at the most recent tournament, The Blessings, where he led Clemson with an even-par 216 score for 54 holes. The junior transfer from Carson-Newman was a second-team Division II All-American last year.
Kian Rose, the Clemson leader in stroke average with a 71.56 average, was Clemson’s best player at this tournament a year ago with a 213 total, good enough for 23rd place. Rose has finished in the top 25 of all three tournaments so far this year, including 14th at the Folds of Honor Collegiate in Michigan.
Andrew Swanson also has experience at the Golf Club of Georgia. He had a 222 total last year in helping Clemson to a ninth place team finish. Swanson finished 11th at The Blessings in Clemson’s most recent tournament.
Alberto Dominquez will make his first appearance in the Clemson lineup this weekend. He did finish 15th at the Maui Jim individual tournament in the season opener. He had a final round 67 at that event. Dominquez is a native of Spain, who was a two-time Division II All-American at Erskine where he posted a 71.83 stroke average.
This will be Clemson’s 15th appearance at the Golf Club of Georgia. The tournament was previously known as the US Collegiate. Clemson won the tournament in the spring of 2006 and the spring of 2009. Clemson’s best finish when it has been played in the fall is a third place in 2015.
Live scoring will be available at golfstat.com
