Clemson, SC—Jonathan Nielsen fired a final round 67 on Saturday to finish third in the individual race and lead the Clemson Tigers to an 11th place finish out of 31 teams at The Goodwin Collegiate In San Francisco, California. The 54-hole tournament that features the largest field in college golf was played at the famed TPC Harding Park Course, the site of the 2020 PGA Championship.
With Clemson’s 11th place finish the Tigers posted a record of 20-10 against the field and moved over the .500 mark for the season (69-60-1), above the important cutline to be selected for the NCAA Tournament. Clemson now has a 53-23-1 record against the field in the spring.
Nielsen finished third with a 207 total, three-under-par on the par 70 course that measured 7,193 yards. He was especially good in the clutch as he played his last 12 holes at five-under-par. It was Nielsen’s fifth top eight finish of the year and he lowered his season stroke average to a team best 70.80. Nielsen was outstanding on the par four holes during the tournament, posting a 3.86 average, second best in the field of 168 players. He led the Tigers in birdies with 11.
Nielsen’s 207 score was just two shots behind medalist Braxton Watts of Utah and just one behind the 206 of Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen. Thorbjornsen is the #1 ranked player in the nation in the PGA University ratings, and the #3 player in the nation according to Spikemark. Among the players Nielsen beat was Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht, the #2 player in the PGA University Rankings.
Clemson was in 17th place through six holes on Saturday, but played the last 12 holes at four-under as a team to improve to 11th place at the end of the round. The improvement was most important because a 17th place finish would have left the Tigers with a 14-16 record for the week instead of the 20-10 record for the 11th place finish.
A major contributor to the performance on Saturday was Andrew Swanson, who shot a two-under par 68. He finished with three birdies and just one bogey. The native of Bluffton, SC shot a 218 for the 54 holes, second best on the Clemson team. He improved his score every round, going from an opening round 78 that was the non-counter, to a 72 in the second round to his final round 68.
Sophomore Austin Scott shot a 72 in the final round, his best round as a Clemson Tiger, the third best round of the day for Clemson. Scott played the final nine holes at even par, including a birdie on the par four seventh hole. It was the first time Scott was playing in the Clemson lineup, as he had only played as an individual previously.
Alberto Dominguez was Clemson’s fourth counter in the final round with a 75. He also played well down the stretch, playing the final nine holes in one-over-par.
Thomas Higgins was Clemson’s non-counter on Saturday with a 77, but he had shot a team best 69 in the second round.
Clemson will play its last regular season tournament April 8-9 at the University of Virginia in the Lewis Chitengwa Invitational. The ACC Championship is April 19-22 at Charlotte Country Club.
