Clemson, SC—Fresh off the first individual championship of his career, senior Kian Rose will lead Clemson into the Watersound Invitational at Shark’s Tooth Golf Club in Panama City this coming Monday. The 54-hole event will run Monday through Wednesday, Feb. 17-19.
Clemson will be one of 12 teams in the field that includes six Top 25 teams according to the latest college golf rankings published by clipped.com. In addition to Clemson, ACC teams in the field include 14th ranked Georgia Tech, 25th ranked Notre Dame, 33rd ranked host school Florida State and 42nd ranked NC State.
The four SEC teams competing include 11th ranked Vanderbilt, 18th ranked Mississippi State, 24th ranked Alabama, and Kentucky. Big Ten teams include 12th ranked UCLA and Michigan State. Navy is the only non Power 4 Conference school in the field.
This will be the fourth consecutive year Clemson has competed in the Watersound Invitational. The Tigers finished sixth of 12 teams last year. Clemson’s best finish is a fifth place out of 15 squads in 2022.
Three players with experience at Shark’s Tooth will be in the Clemson line, as veterans Rose, Thomas Higgins and Andrew Swanson will compete for the Tigers this coming week. Jordan Byrd’s lineup also will include freshman Rich Wills and East Carolina transfer Lucas Augustsson.
Rose, who finished 22nd at Watersound last year with a one-under par score of 215, is coming off his best finish as a Tiger, co-medalist honors at the Battle of Briar’s Creek where he fired a seven-under par score of 209. The native of South Africa is second on the Clemson team this year in stroke average with a 71.80 figure. Rose will be playing the 33 tournament of his career and next Wednesday’s final round will be the 100th of his Clemson career.
Wills was Clemson’s second best player at the Battle of Briar’s Creek where he shot a 210 score to finish a career best fourth place. The freshman from Cramerton, NC is third on the team in stroke average with a 71.93 average. He is the only golfer on the team who has scored 75 or better in every round this year (15-15).
Swanson leads the team in stroke average at 71.73 and under-par rounds with eight. His season included a second-place finish at Steelwood, the last tournament of the fall. Swanson is a veteran of 31 tournaments and 92 career rounds.
Higgins is coming off a one-over-par tournament score of 217 at the Battle of Briar’s Creek where he helped Clemson to a fourth-place finish. His 31st place finish was his best of the year and his tournament included a season best 69 in the opening round.
Lucas Augustsson rounds out the Clemson lineup for Watersound. He has played in all five tournaments so far this year and has a 73.60 average. Sean Curran, a senior from New Lennox, IL will play the event as an individual. He finished 19th at the Stono Invitational individual tournament in his last appearance.
How about a brief summary/update of our Men's Golf Team. Just checked and it appears we are #60? I obviously haven't been keeping up these past few years but thought we were always better than that? TIA