The leaders are playing amazing golf and the final two rounds will be highly competitive as it seems to be most every year at the BMW, but for Clemson fans, “how bout them Tigers!”

The Clemson contingent started the BMW tournament with Carson Young, DJ Trahan, Jacob Bridgeman and Corbin Mills in the field.

After the cut was made at 4-under par Carson Young, DJ Trahan, Jacob Bridgeman and Corbin Mills will play the weekend.

First round leader Nelson Ledesma added to his lead by shooting a 5-under par 66 at Thornblade. His two round total of 14-under par gives him a 2-shot lead over 5 golfers including Blayne Barber who carded an 8-under par 64 at Carolina.

It is unlikely any of the Tigers are going to catch the leaders in the final two rounds at Thornblade, but each one of the four can win something other than the trophy shaped like a BMW steering wheel.

The leader among the four Tigers is the most recent grad.

Jacob Bridgeman won the ACC Championship and finished 2nd in the PGA Tour University ranking. He is exempt into the rest of the Korn-Ferry Tour to try and make “The 25” who automatically advance to the PGA Tour.

Bridgeman made his first cut and check last week at the Rex Hospital Classic.

Last year the 25th player on the “The 25” had winnings of a little over $300,000. Bridgeman won $4,900 at his first tournament. So he has some work to do.

He shot a second straight 68 for a two round total of 7-under par. He moved up 24 spots and is now tied for 25th.

Playing the second round at Carolina, the three-time SC High School champion got to 6-under and looked like he would safely make the cut, but on the back nine he gave three shots back with bogeys.

At 3-under par he was in danger of missing the cut when he went on one of his hot streaks. He birdied two of his next three holes and eagled his final hole to finish at 7-under par.

The final two rounds of the tournament will be played at Thornblade.

As a junior, Bridgeman set The Blade Junior scoring record. His first round included a stretch of birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle and birdie on the back nine.

A good weekend and he can pick up some points.

Carson Young is in “The 25” at number 16 when the BMW started. He has a win so far this year and in his first full year on the Korn-Ferry Tour with a good showing this weekend he could solidify his spot in “The 25”.

Young shot an even par 71 in his round at Thornblade on Friday. He made the cut on the number and is tied for 62nd.

DJ Trahan won state high school championships at Dorman and a national championship with the Tigers in 2003.

His exempt status as a 2 time winner on the PGA Tour affords the now 41 year old the opportunity to play when there is a spot open, but it is hard for him to set his own schedule.

An injury robbed Trahan of some of his most productive years on Tour, but while he has a good way to go before ageing into the Champions Tour playing and improving his current Tour status could come from a good finish at Thornblade.

Trahan has a two-round total of 137 and is tied for 34th heading into the weekend.

Corbin Mills won the old USGA Public Links championship and played in the Masters.

Mills got into the BMW with a sponsors’ exemption. He is the only one of the eight players who received an exemption from the tournament who is still playing his own ball.

After Clemson, Mills has come close a couple of times to advancing to a Q-School final. After missing by a shot a few years ago he thought he was done with the game.

After being away for awhile he pulled the clubs out and once again showed he could compete.

Early in May, Mills was the medalist in Omaha, Nebraska at a local qualifier for the US Open. He shot a 67.

The Greenville native missed the cut at final qualifying last week in Georgia, but he made the cut at the BMW.

He shot a 4-under par 68 at Carolina on Friday and for the second day in a row his scorecard included a double bogey and an eagle.

Mills has status on the PGA Canada and PGA Latinoamerica Tours, but a good finish near home could hopefully keep his future travels to tournaments in the United States.

Golfers can get a win in a tournament even if they don’t win the tournament.

If these four Tigers can play as well as they have or maybe just a little bit better they all will leave the Upstate without a trophy or one of those Happy Gilmore sized checks, but they will leave as winners.

Go Tigers!

Scores from the second round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour/leaderboard.html