Clemson, S.C.—Clemson will open its 2019-20 men’s golf season on Friday at the Carpet Classic in Dalton, Georgia. It will mark the 12th consecutive season that Larry Penley’s team has opened the year playing at The Farm in one of the top college golf tournaments of the fall season. The tournament will run Friday through Sunday on the par 72 course that is 7,180 yards in length.
This will be Clemson’s 31st appearance at the Carpet Classic. The Tigers and Penley have won the tournament four times, but have not captured first place since the fall the 2002-03 academic year, the same season Clemson won the National Championship.
Five times a Clemson player has won medalist honors and four of the five have gone on to play on the PGA Tour. The fifth, Bryson Nimmer, is just starting his professional career. Danny Ellis won in 1992-93, Lucas Glover in 1997-98, D.J. Trahan in 2001-02, Kyle Stanley in 2008-09 and Nimmer last year.
Nimmer shot a final round 65 to win the Carpet Classic last fall with a 206 total for 54 holes. He helped Clemson to a fourth-place finish in the 15-team field with that 10-under-par score.
William Nottingham and Jacob Bridgeman are two returning players for this year from that fourth-place team. Nottingham, a senior this year, was Clemson’s second best player with a 217 score and 22nd place finish. Bridgeman, a sophomore this year who made All-ACC as a freshman, shot 220 and finished 34th.
Clemson’s lineup this year will include a senior (Nottingham), a sophomore (Bridgeman), two juniors (Colby Patton and Turk Pettit) and a freshman (Carter Pendley.)
Coach Penley had a 72-hole qualifying tournament for the spots the Carpet Classic. Turk Pettit was the low man with a 272, four strokes better than Bridgeman. Pettit is coming off an outstanding summer, highlighted by a final eight finish at the Western Amateur. He was a freshman All-American two years ago.
Bridgeman is the top returnee in terms of stroke average from last year. He had a 71.81 figure as a rookie, fourth best in Clemson history. He also broke Kyle Stanley’s freshman record for rounds in the 60s with 12.
Nottingham and Colby Patton both had 280 scores in the team qualifying. Nottingham is the only senior on the Clemson team and is a veteran of 31 tournaments and 93 rounds. He has six career top 10s and 20 under-par rounds. Patton is a junior who has played in 17 events as a Tiger. He finished strong last year with an eighth place finish at the NCAA Regional in Austin, Texas before helping the Tigers to a tie for eighth at the NCAA National Tournament.
Pendley will be making his debut as a Clemson golfer, but it won’t be his first round at The Farm. He is a native of Dalton, Georgia and has played many rounds at the site of this event. He was ranked 26th in the nation among junior golfers last year and had three straight top 10 finishes at the Georgia 6A High School Tournament.
Kyle Cottam, who was Clemson’s top golfer at the NCAA National Tournament last year with an 11th place finish, will play as an individual in this weekend’s tournament.
Live scoring will be available this weekend on golfstat.com.
