With a nod to Charlie Rymer, the 1985 US Junior champion, the honors keep piling up for the two best Junior golfers to ever come from the Palmetto State.

ACC Player of the Year Jacob Bridgeman from Clemson and Georgia’s first four-time First Team All-SEC golfer Trent Phillips are both from Inman and both have been honored by their respective college conferences.

Bridgeman won the ACC Individual championship and has been honored as the Conference Player of the Year.

The Clemson senior won two of his five career events during this past season. His win total ties him with former Clemson greats, 1989 US Amateur Champion Chris Patton and 2002 ACC Player of the Year and PGA Tour Professional D.J. Trahan.

With the NCAA tournament still ahead, Bridgeman owns a 70.37 stroke average which is second in the Clemson record book. He is first among Tiger record holders with 49 rounds in the 60s during his career.

In addition to his win at the Linger Longer Invitational and the ACC Championship, Bridgeman recorded six top ten finishes in his nine events this year.

The only year the Chapman High School grad did not make the All-ACC team was in the Covid shortened 2020 season when the conference did not name a team.

As a high school golfer, Bridgeman won three SC AAA individual championships. He is one of only four golfers to ever win three state South Carolina high school championships in a row.

Bridgeman is currently second on the PGA Tour University ranking

With so many Bulldogs playing and winning on the PGA Tour, it is hard to believe that Phillips is the only Georgia golfer to ever receive the honor of being named to the All-SEC First Team in each of his four years in Athens.

He joins current PGA Tour stars Harris English, Russell Henley and Brendon Todd as four-time All-SEC performers.

Phillips has a 69.63 scoring average this year while picking up a win at the WIlliams Cup and six top-10 finishes. He now has three tournament titles and his 24 career top-10 finishes are third in the Georgia record book.

The Boiling Springs, SC High School graduate is ranked fifth on the most recent PGA Tour University ranking and is eleventh in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Last summer he added a win at the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur to his resume.

He was a finalist for the Byron Nelson Award and is on the watch lists for the Ben Hogan Award and the Haskins Award.

As a junior golfer, Phillips was named the Jay Haas South Carolina Golf Association Junior Player of the Year three straight times. He won three straight SC AAAAA High School championships and two SCGA Junior titles.

Both golfers will have immediate professional opportunities after the NCAA Championship.

Phillips won a spot in the Korn-Ferry Tour event in Raleigh as a special prize for his victory in the Williams’s Cup last fall.

Bridgeman won a PGA Canada qualifying tournament and has fully exempt status on that Tour which starts in June.

If each golfer can hold their position in the PGA University top-five they each would receive fully exempt status to play the remainder of the Korn-Ferry Tour season.

The BMW Charity Pro-Am has not announced if one or both top-ranked local golfers will be in the field for the tournament which begins at Greenville’s Thornblade Club and Spartanburg’s Carolina Country Club on June 9th.

Bridgeman and Phillips will begin NCAA Regional play on Monday. The Tigers are in the Columbus, Ohio Regional while the Bulldogs are in the Regional in Bryan, Texas.