CLEMSON, S.C. — Freshman Gabriel Holtz shot an even-par 71 to lead the Clemson golf team to a 299 team score and a tie for 12th out of 18 teams after the first round of the Inverness Collegiate at famed Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio. It was the first round of the opening tournament of the year for Jordan Byrd’s Tigers.
The field includes 10 teams who played in the NCAA Tournament last year. Iowa leads the tournament after the first round with a score of one-under-par 283. The Hawkeyes were the only team to score under par in the first round on a day when the field average was 75.13, four over par.
Clemson is in a tie for 12th (with Wake Forest and Mississippi), but it is just five shots out of sixth, a position held by Auburn, the defending NCAA Champion.
Holtz got off to a bad start in his first career round as a Tiger with a bogey on the first two holes. But, the native of Boca Raton, Fla. played the last 16 holes bogey free with a pair of birdies to score even par. Only seven players shot under par in the first rounds, so Holtz is tied for eighth entering Monday’s second round.
Oscar Valdemar Holm Bredkjær was Clemson’s second best player with a score of two over par 73. He had three birdies, but had a pair of double bogeys in registering nine hole scores of 37-36. The second-year Clemson player who led the Tigers in stroke average last year, its tied for 18th out of 90 gofers after the first round.
Biagio Gagliardi, Clemson’s first player from Rome, Italy, had a five-over-par 76, while senior Hampton Roberts shot a 79. Junior Rich Wills had an 81 in the first round and was Clemson’s non-counting score.
Live scoring is available HERE.