Clemson, SC—On the same day the Clemson men’s basketball team upset Arizona in Los Angeles. California to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, Tiger golfer Jonathan Nielsen shot a four-under par 66 in San Francisco, California at the TPC Harding Park. Nielsen holds the first round lead out of 168 players at The Goodwin golf tournament.
The Goodwin has the largest field in college golf, as 31 teams from around the country are competing on the par 70 course that was the site of the 2020 PGA Championship. Nielsen has the lead by a shot out of the 168 players in the field.
The Clemson senior from Denmark had four birdies and no bogeys on the day. It was his first career bogey-free round as a Clemson golfer thanks to nine-hole scores of 34-32. He played the par four holes in three-under par, best in the field.Nielsen entered the tournament with a stroke average of 71.05, best on the Clemson team.
The Clemson team is tied for ninth in the 31-team field at five-over-par 285. Clemson is just six shots out of first place after host school Stanford, Tennessee and Georgia all had team scores of 279.
Alberto Dominguez was Clemson’s second best golfer on Thursday with a score of one over par 71. The Clemson senior from Spain had nine hole scores of 35-36 and tied Nielsen for team honors in terms of total birdies with four. He is in 28th place after the first round.
Thomas Higgins shot a 72 thanks to nine-hole scores of 37-35 and stands in a tie for 45th place after 18 holes. Sophomore Austin Scott, playing in his first career round in the Clemson lineup, shot a 76 after nine-hole scores of 39-37. Andrew Swanson shot a 78 after nine hole scores of 38-40.
The second round of the 54-hole tournament will be played on Friday. Live scoring is available on golfstat.com.
