Brownell's pep talk helps Clemson golf advance in NCAA Tournament |
CLEMSON – Clemson’s golf team is headed to the NCAA National Tournament with a big assist from senior Calahan Keever and a minor assist from Clemson basketball coach
Brad Brownell.
Keever sank a 14-foot par putt on the final hole to give Clemson a one-stroke victory at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional last Wednesday, giving Clemson its first NCAA regional championship in 20 years and eighth in history. Clemson finished the tournament with a score of 25-under-par 815, the lowest 54-hole NCAA Tournament score in school history and the fourth lowest for any tournament. Over the three-round tournament, Clemson shot scores of 275-266 and 274, the first time all year that Clemson shot under par in all three rounds. The Tigers now advance to the NCAA National Tournament at Carlsbad, California, May 24-29, along with East Tennessee State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Baylor. It will be Clemson’s 34th appearance in the national tournament, its first since 2021. Clemson won the championship in 2003. Before the Tigers left for Chapel Hill, head coach Jordan Byrd asked basketball coach Brad Brownell to talk to the team. “What prompted it was just their great play and I tried to talk to them and they see about what NC State has just done (in the NCAA Tournament), winning five straight games in a row and talk to them about momentum. And then you watch Brad's team that comes off a really poor performance against Boston College,” Byrd said. "And then we meet as just the head coaches, and Brad had been to that one, and this was after we had maybe our worst round all year. We completely laid an egg. I asked him what to do and he said, ‘Jordan, we did the same thing, and here is what I did.’ “And he kind of walked me through it and gave me a chance to just prepare my talk to them the next day. And I talked to them and I think I got their attention. And then I had kind of thought that, hey, maybe I can get just a different voice inside our clubhouse, in our locker room, to let them hear someone else's opinion because I felt like my message was maybe getting a little stale. And he came in, and he'd asked me what to talk about, and I think I sent him a text with four sentences, and he talked for about 40 minutes and kind of just talked about their season, talked about the guys really rising to the moment. So that was part of it.” Byrd said Brownell made the message relevant to his golfers. “It was just about being a great teammate, grinding out your rounds and turning that 74 into a 72 and having great body language, great attitudes. And he is like, that's what a great teammate is,” Byrd said. “And that's what we did all week. And there was more to it than that, and since he's a golfer, he understands these concepts, and he kind of emphasized some of the same things that I talked about this year but with just a different voice. And then he really challenged them.” Thomas Higgins, who had a second-round 63 that established a Clemson record for low score in any NCAA Tournament round, had a 68 in the third round on Wednesday and finished 14th with a 204 score. His final round included two eagles, and he finished the tournament with three to tie a Clemson record. Higgins played the par five holes at nine-under-par for the week and made eagles on the sixth and 17th holes on Wednesday. Higgins said he appreciated what Brownell had to say. “It was great and it made is think a bit,” Higgins told TigerNet. “It woke us up a little bit. He was talking about Tiger Pride and what it means to be a Clemson Tiger. He was geeking us up for the week and gave us some advice. It was great to talk to Coach Brownell.” They were getting Coach dialed!
Stoked for the fellas this week! Let’s go, @ClemsonMGolf!!#ClemsonGRIT / #TigerPride https://t.co/xRWP4eStoE pic.twitter.com/PUwo4F7MiB
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