Clemson falls short of final stage of NCAA golf championship

Freshman Jacob Bridgeman birdied the final hole to pull Clemson even, but Southern Methodist dominated the sudden-death playoff and eliminated the Tigers from the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship on Monday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

With the eighth and final berth in the match play portion of the tournament that determines the national champion at stake, the Tigers and SMU staged an up-and-down battle in the only mystery over the fourth round of stroke play.

After Bridgeman’s birdie evened the score, SMU missed an opportunity to win in regulation. In the playoff, the five players on each team played different holes for an aggregate score. The Mustangs posted five pars; Clemson had three pars and two bogeys.

Sophomore Kyle Cottam again led the Tigers, posting a 2-over-par 74 Monday and sharing 11^th in the individual competition at 3-over-par 291. Other Clemson individuals included Bridgeman in a tie for 38th, Bryson Nimmer in a tie for 43rd, Colby Patton in a tie for 71^st and William Nottingham in a tie for 79^th.

In Tuesday’s quarterfinals, SMU was set to face top-seeded Oklahoma State, which won the stroke-play title by 31 strokes. Other quarterfinals include Vanderbilt vs. Texas A&M, Wake Forest vs. Stanford and Texas vs. Oklahoma.