Interview with Clemson golf coach Larry Penley after the ACC Tournament

Redman and Clemson finish second at the ACC Championship

Doc Redman shot a 7-under par 30 on the first nine at the ACC Tournament. Redman finished as the runner-up.

The Clemson Tigers rallied from six strokes down at the start of the final round of the ACC tournament to take the lead at the turn, but the rally ran out of steam on the final four holes and left the Tigers 2 shots behind Georgia Tech at the end of the championship.

“We were close today,” said Clemson coach Larry Penley. “This was great experience for our freshmen to see what it’s like,” said the coach.

The Clemson lineup included three freshmen who had never played in an ACC Championship and never played The Old North State Course.

“Our upper classmen showed up today. Doc (Redman) and Bryson (Nimmer) were phenomenal all day. Hopefully our freshmen learned something from them,” said the Clemson coach.

The Tigers US Amateur champion led the way. Redman opened the final round with an eagle and got to six under par quickly as he challenged for the top spot all day.

“My putting was pretty good,” said Redman. “It was 15 feet for the eagle and that was a nice way to start,” he said.

Bryson Nimmer earned his third top-10 finish in the ACC Tournament coming in eighth place.

The ACC championship was his first tournament with the team since the spring opener.

Redman had played at Bay Hill, The Masters and the RBC Heritage in the last month.

Redman carded four birdies in the next five holes and made the turn at 30 on his scorecard to be within one shot of the individual lead.

Nimmer also helped close the gap with Georgia Tech. The Clemson junior shot a 5-under par round of 67 and didn’t make a bogey. He finished in a tie for eighth place at 9-under par.

Freshman Colby Patton started the final round making four birdies in his first six holes.

Freshman Colby Patton pitched in with four birdies in his first six holes as the Tigers were able to take the lead away from the Yellow Jackets going to the back nine.

“We made up the deficit pretty quick. We jumped on the golf course early and made a lot of birdies,” said Penley.

However, the back nine was another story for Clemson. The birdies became harder to make and especially on the par 5 holes.

“Our problem was we just didn’t score well enough on the par fives.  You can’t do that in this tournament on this golf course,” said Penley.

Redman birdied the 16th hole to get within one shot of tournament leader Thomas Walsh from Virginia, but a bogey on the 17th hole and an off line drive on the final hole left Redman two shots out of the lead even after shooting a 6-under par 66.

“It was just unfortunate that I couldn’t get anything going after the good start. I was disappointed with my finish, but it was great to be back playing with my teammates,” said Redman.

Kyle Cottam finished his first ACC tournament at 2-under par.

Clemson freshman Cottam finished with a 2-under par score of 214 for 28th. Patton completed his first ACC tournament with a 3-over par total.

Pettit finished the tournament at even par 216. His birdie on the final hole kept the Tigers in second place rather than falling into a third place tie with Wake Forest

“Our three freshmen will be back and they will have some experience out there. We have some mistakes to clean up and we will.” concluded Penley.

Clemson now will break for exams and then begin preparations for the NCAA Regionals which begin in the middle of May.

Complete tournament scoring is available at http://www.golfstat.com

Interview with Clemson’s Doc Redman who finished second at the ACC Championship.