Sweet victory: Clemson crowns individual golf national champion
Turk Pettit has won two individual championships in his college career at Clemson: one at the beginning and one at the end.
The Tiger shot 68-67-68-70 for a 72-hole score of seven-under-par 273 to pocket the individual NCAA Championship on Monday at Grayhawk Golf Course in Scottsdale, Arizona. His only other career tournament win was as a freshman at the Irish Creek Invitational in Kannapolis, North Carolina on April 8, 2018.
With the victory, Pettit also became the second-ever Clemson player to win an NCAA individual golf title. Charles Warren was the first in 1997 at Conway Farms in Chicago.
As a team, the Tigers scored 1,156 and finished in 13th place, 11 strokes behind North Carolina’s eighth and final team-qualifying spot of 1,145 heading into the quarterfinals.
Pettit, an Auburn, Alabama native, started Monday’s final round on the back nine and took the lead after the 17th hole. He bogeyed on the first and third holes, but bounced back by making par on the final six holes.
Oklahoma State freshman Bo Jin, who was atop the individual standings heading into the fourth round, was tied with Pettit for first at one point. Jin, however, was wide on a putt for par on the 18th hole, denying himself a playoff hole against Pettit and finishing second with a four-round total of 274.
“I think my heart was beating faster right then than it did at all throughout the day,” Pettit said in an interview with the Golf Channel. “It was beating fast. You know, you hate to see a guy miss, but, I mean, you love to win, too — so that was sweet that I was able to win.”
During the interview, Pettit also announced that he will not be coming back to Clemson for a fifth year, a chance allotted to NCAA athletes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Becoming the second Tiger to win an individual NCAA championship was one thing. But Pettit sharing the moment with coach Larry Penley, who made his 37th trip to the NCAA tournament this year, was quite another.
Penley announced in January that he would retire at the conclusion of the season, ending an outstanding 38-year coaching career that included a national championship in 2003, 10 ACC championships, nine ACC Coach of the Year honors and 83 tournament victories, setting a new conference record.
“I think the big thing is, right when he started recruiting me, he showed a lot of trust in me,” said Pettit. “It’s been that way ever since. He believes in me and everyone else on the team, and I think that’s the main thing about coach Penley: He trusts his players, he believes in them and that’s what you want out of a coach.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 1:40 PM.
