CLEMSON, S.C. — Fresh off a team victory at the Mountaineer Invitational in West Virginia on April 14, Clemson will open play in the 2026 ACC Men’s Golf Championship on Thursday at Shark's Tooth Golf Club in Panama City, Fla. Clemson will be one of 15 teams in the field for the league championship on the Greg Norman designed course that plays to a par 72.
The ACC is one of the top conferences in college golf, as 10 of the 15 teams in the field are ranked in the top 35 in the nation. That list includes 32nd ranked Clemson who has two tournament wins, and four top three finishes. Clemson has an overall record of 82-50-3 against the opposition in nine tournaments this year. Clemson has already clinched a winning overall record entering the ACC Tournament, a prerequisite for selection to the NCAA Tournament.
Clemson’s lineup will include seniors Thomas Higgins and Lucas Augustsson, junior Oscar Bredkjaer, and sophomores Rich Wills and Colin Salema. It is the same lineup Jordan Byrd fielded for the tournament victory at the Mountaineer Invitational.
Augustsson has the top stroke average on the team so far this year with a 72.038 figure, just a few percentage points ahead of Bredkjaer’s 72.043 average. Augustsson has four top 10 finishes, including top five in each of his last two events, a third place at The Hootie and a fifth place at The Mountaineer Invitational. He is 18-under-par for his last nine rounds, a streak that includes seven rounds under par. The transfer from East Carolina in his second year at Clemson leads the team in birdies with 100 and has a 71.78 stroke average in final rounds, best on the team.
Higgins has been on a hot streak as well. The native of Ireland finished second at the Mountaineer Invitational, the highest finish of his 35-tournament career. He has scored under par in five of his last six rounds and his 72.52 average for the year is third on the team. He is the co-leader on the team in top 10 finishes with four. He has 13 career eagles, more than any other active Tiger. This will be Higgins’s third ACC Championship appearance. He finished 23rd as a sophomore in 2024 with a 215 score, then finished 21st last year with the same total.
Bredkjaer is second on the team in stroke average as noted above. He has seven rounds in the 60s and eight under-par rounds. He is coming off a final round 65 at the Mountaineer Invitational when he had seven birdies and an eagle. It was a big reason Clemson was able to close with a team victory over a field that included three top 10 teams.
Wills is fourth on the team in stroke average at 72.92. The sophomore from Daniel Island, SC has a 71.0 stroke average in opening rounds, best on the Clemson team. He has a 4.72 stroke average on par five holes, second on the team, and he has had Clemson’s best score of the round five times this year.
Salema has a 73.37 stroke average so far this year. His best finish was third place at the Marquette Invitational in the fall when he helped Clemson to the team victory.
Clemson finished a strong third out of the 15 teams at the 2025 ACC Championship, then reached the semifinals of match play. The program has played in every ACC championship that has been held since the conference was formed in 1954. Clemson’s ACC resume includes 11 ACC Championships with the most recent coming in 2021, Larry Penley’s last year as head coach. Clemson has had the medalist at the ACC Championship eight times with the most recent coming in 2022 when current PGA Tour professional Jacob Bridgeman won with a 203 score after winning a playoff over North Carolina’s Peter Fountain.