CLEMSON, S.C. — Rich Wills and Oscar Bredkjaer both had rounds of one-under-par 71 on Thursday to lead Clemson to a 291 team score and an eighth-place standing out of 15 teams after the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championship at Shark's Tooth Golf Club in Panama City Beach, Fla.
The field will play its second round of stroke play on Friday followed by the final round of stroke play on Saturday. After the 54 holes of stroke play the top eight teams will advance to match play. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Sunday and the championship on Monday.
Stanford holds the team lead after 18 holes with a score of 13-under-par 275. The Cardinal stands 10 shots better than second place Wake Forest, who shot 285. Ninth-ranked North Carolina is third at 288 and 21st-ranked Georgia Tech is fourth at 287. SMU is fifth at even-par 288 and NC State is is sixth at 289. Louisville is one shot better than the Tigers at 290.
Jordan Byrd’s Tigers are tied for eighth with second-ranked Virginia and 24th-ranked Florida. The field is quite packed after Stanford, as just eight shots separate the teams ranked second through 11th.
Making birdies was not the problem for Clemson in the first round, as the Tigers 17th birdies tied for second most in the field that includes nine of the top 35 teams in the nation. But the five Tigers in the lineup had six double bogeys, second most in the field, and 12 bogeys, third most in the field.
It was no surprise that Wills and Bredkjaer were the top Tigers in the first round as they have had the top opening round scoring averages on the team this year. Wills has a team best 71.00 first-round stroke average for the year and he matched that on Thursday thanks to a solid round with three birdies and just two bogeys. He finished strong playing the last seven holes at two-under-par.
Bredkjaer also had three birdies and two bogeys for his one-under-par round. He came into the tournament with a 71.88 average on opening rounds for the year. The transfer from San Francisco shot a team best 34 on the back nine. Bredkjaer and Wills are tied for 14th after 18 holes.
Colin Salema was Clemson’s third best player on Thursday with a score of one-over-par 73. The sophomore from Matthews, N.C. had four birdies for the round and played his last four holes at one-under-par. He is tied for 28th among the 75 players who teed it up in the opening round.
Seniors Thomas Higgins and Lucas Augustsson, who had been Clemson’s best players over the last two tournaments, struggled to rounds of four-over-par 76 on Thursday. Augustsson had three double bogeys over the first four holes, but played the remaining 14 holes at one-under par. Higgins had a pair of double bogeys on his card, but had a highlight on the seventh hole when he made a 30-foot birdie putt.