BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (SMU) – SMU men's golf fell to Clemson in the match play quarterfinals of the ACC Championship on Sunday at The Club at Olde Stone.
The Mustangs earned a spot in the quarterfinals with a fifth-place finish in the stroke play portion of the Championship. They were set for an early morning battle with four-seed Clemson. The match consisted of five individual match play pairings with the winner taking three of the five to clinch the match. The Mustangs and Tigers were locked in a tight battle near the midway portion of the best of five competition.
Will Sides captured the first point of the match but Clemson pulled out the next three to win the pairing.
Sides jumped out to a lead over Andrew Swanson on the first hole. After the match moved to all square on the third hole, Sides won three straight holes from the fifth hole to the eighth to move to 3 up. The match stayed there until Sides clinched it on the 16
th hole. This marked Sides second match play victory of the season after capturing a point for the Mustangs in the Stephens Cup.
Zachary Kingsland lost his match 3&2. He trailed by as many as four holes before cutting the lead to two with three to play but lost the next hole to end the match.
Andrew Petruzzelli spent a good portion of his match tied with Clemson's Rich Willis. He would eventually fall, 2 up, on the last hole to move the match score to 2-1 Clemson.
Enrique Dimayuga was tied at the midway point of his match. The last four holes sent Thomas Higgins of Clemson in front, 2 Up, ending the match at 3-1.
Areen Aggarwal's match went unfinished. He won the first two holes of the match and would hold a one stroke lead heading into the 14
th hole. Aggarwal would drop the next three holes to move to down two with two to play when the match was clinched.
Next up, the Mustangs await their NCAA Regional destination with the announcement coming at Noon CT on Wednesday live on the Golf Channel.
