After an uneven start to the season, the Clemson Tigers won their first tournament of the year at the weather shortened Palmetto Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate.

The Tigers placed all five golfers in the top 15 to claim a 5-shot victory in the tournament played at the Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken.

“It was a team effort,” said Head Coach Jordan Byrd.  “Everyone was in the game all day and that was good to see,” he added. 

Bad weather prevented the first round to be completed on Monday. The tournament finished the first round early on Tuesday and played the second round as the final round.

“The weather was as bad as I have seen on Monday, but it was much nicer today and suitable for scoring.  Andrew Swanson got up and down all day.  It wasn’t his best ball striking day, but he made a lot of five and six footers to shoot 67,” noted the Clemson coach.

East Carolina transfer Lucas Augustsson had  the best finish for the Tigers claiming third place.

“Lucas Augustsson’s 68 in the first round was extraordinary.   He had one bad hole, but he came back strong to finish that round at 68, then was solid in the second round,” Byrd said.

Clemson won the event with a score of three-over-par 563. 

 Host school USC Aiken finished second at 568, while Campbell was third at 571 and East Carolina was fourth at 583.  

Virginia Tech was the only other ACC team in the field and the Hokies finished eighth at 604.

The Tigers are attempting to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the 43rd straight year, one of the longest streaks in the country.

Clemson needed a win in the event to boost their won-loss record for the year.

Going into the event Clemson was well short of the required 500 record needed to be considered for an NCAA post season invitation.

The win got Clemson closer to the 500 mark. The team’s record was 28-50 and now stands at 42-50.

Clemson’s next tournament is in San Francisco and is a 30 team field at the Goodwin.

The Tigers would need at least a 10th place finish to move above the 500 mark,

After their trip to the West Coast the Tigers will play in the Lewis Chitengwa Invitational and complete the regular season at the ACC Championship.