The Clemson men’s golf team will compete in its fourth and final tournament of the fall season this weekend at the Ka’anapali Classic in Maui, Hawaii.
The program has experienced some growing pains since the season began in September, having finished in the bottom third of each tournament they have traveled to so far, including the Tennessee Invitational, the Blessings Invitational in Arkansas and the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational.
With each tournament comes a completely different experience for the golfer. With weather, course conditions and player fields as changing variables for each round, Clemson has the chance to perform better than it has all season.
Last year, junior Andrew Swanson finished first at Ka’anapali in a field of 123 golfers. He shot 195 (-18) in his three rounds, and Clemson finished second overall. In 2016, Clemson finished first overall. This weekend, Swanson looks to take home the trophy again.
“This season so far, I have been really close to a lot of good finishes but have made quite a few dumb mistakes,” Swanson told The Tiger. “So, for me, it’s about getting rid of the mistakes, and if that happens, then I will be super happy with that.”
Multiple veterans will be back in Maui alongside Swanson. Kian Rose and Jonathan Nielsen are expected to play the course, with seniors Calahan Keever and Alberto Dominguez headed with the team as well.
Nielsen currently leads the program with an average round of 71.50 strokes. Keever and Swanson both follow close behind with 73.
As a whole, the Tigers have been trying to find their groove. While they have seven tournaments in the spring before the ACC championship, the program wants to finish up the fall on a positive note.
“For the team, it’s very similar. We haven’t timed up good golf quite yet. I know we have a ton of talent on our team this year, even if we haven’t played very well so far,” Swanson said.
“I trust that we will start to put together a lot of good finishes, and my goal is for us to have at least one team win before the postseason starts in April,” he added.
Live scoring will take place Oct. 26-28, and all updates for the tournament can be found on @ClemsonMGolf on X, formerly known as Twitter.
