Bryson

Nimmer

Nimmer played his way into this event last Monday and is taking full advantage of the opportunity so far. He opened on the 10th tee today and got his scoring started with a 24'11" birdie bomb at the 12th. That would be the theme of the day (putting) as he would add three more splashes from outside of 10 feet before his day was done, gaining 3.76 strokes putting to rank 2nd in the field at press time. The highlight of his round would come from off the green though, holing out from the greenside bunker, for eagle, at the par-5 sixth hole. Playing in just his ninth PGA TOUR event, this will be his first time positioning himself inside of the top 10 after any round on the PGA TOUR.

The 25-year-old Nimmer, a Clemson product and South Carolina resident, carded a 7-under 65 at The Clubs of Kingwood (Deerwood) to secure a spot in the field at Vidanta Vallarta. Also playing their way into the Mexico Open field were Los Angeles resident Jeffrey Kang (66), fellow Clemson alum Turk Pettit (68) and Chicago native Patrick Flavin (68). In March, Nimmer finished T-11 at the Corales Puntacana Championship as a Monday qualifier, coming up one stroke short of a top-10 finish that would have earned him a spot in the following week’s Valero Texas Open. He recently missed the cut at the RBC Heritage, where he played on a sponsor exemption, and currently holds 38 non-member FedExCup points, which would place him No. 219 in the season-long standings. Nimmer was a four-time first-team all-ACC selection at Clemson, where he and his dad, Tony Nimmer, became the first father-son all-ACC duo in Tigers’ golf history.

The 25-year-old Nimmer, a three-time All-ACC first-team selection at Clemson, missed the cut last year at Harbour Town Golf Links after rounds of 80-68. This week will mark his third PGA Tour start of the season and his first since a T-11 finish at the Corales Puntacana Championship, where he earned his spot in the field through Monday qualifying. He carded weekend rounds of 69-65 and finished at 12-under 276, five strokes behind winner Chad Ramey. Earlier in March, Nimmer was 69th at the Puerto Rico Open, and he’s also played one event on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, missing the cut at the LECOM Suncoast Classic in February. Last season, Nimmer played three Tour events, making two cuts with a best finish of T-35 at the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree.

Earlier this month, the 25-year-old Nimmer finished 69th at the Puerto Rico Open, where he made his fourth appearance. He’s played one event on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, missing the cut at the LECOM Suncoast Classic in February. Last season, Nimmer played three Tour events, making two cuts with a best finish of T-35 at the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree. He also played three KFT events last season, making all three cuts with best finish coming at the Simmons Bank Open (T-25). In Forme Tour action, he was T-3 in the Auburn University Club Invitational and made the cut in all eight of his starts. Nimmer was a three-time All-ACC first-team selection at Clemson, where he also was ACC Freshman of the Year and set 27 different Clemson golf records.

The 24-year-old Nimmer, who grew up in nearby Ridgeland, S.C., is familiar with the course, but he told media on Tuesday that he’s gotten some of his most valuable experience from the RBC Heritage earlier this season, where he shot 80-68 and missed the cut. “I kind of feel more comfortable now and learned a lot from the Heritage, kind of playing in front of my hometown crowd for the first time and it will be that again this week, which I’m super excited about,” he said. “My game’s in really good form. I’ve been playing really good golf for a couple months now. So, we’ll see what happens this week and just going to do the best I can.” Nimmer made the cut in his third start at the Puerto Rico Open in February, finishing at 6-under 282 to place T-39. He played on the Mackenzie Tour for a season before that tour was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus and instead played on the LOCALiQ Series, where he won the points standings thanks to two wins and a runner-up finish.

Nimmer is making his tournament debut this week but it will be far from his first time seeing the course. “In high school John Farrell used to let us come out and hit it around and bring our high school buddies out and play. He was so awesome about that. He was always giving back to the high school kids like that. I’ve probably played here 40 to 50 times. Obviously not always in this kind of shape. It’s kind of firm and fast this year, and a lot of times you catch it at other times during the year and it’s a lot softer. But even just sight lines and stuff off the tee, it helps a ton. A lot of course knowledge to gain from that.” The Clemson product reached as high as 20th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro and he’s played one full season on the Mackenzie Tour (8-for-11 with four top 25s). In 2020 he played the LOCALiQ Series and won twice there. His only three previous starts on the PGA TOUR have all come at the Puerto Rico Open (T47-MC-T39).

Nimmer has been cruising down on the LOCALiQ Series, winning two of the four events played so far. They are out of action until September 22nd so this week presented a good chance to test his skills on the big stage. At press time, there is no reason cited for this pre-tourney WD, but gamers should remove him from all weekly lineups.

The Clemson senior currently sits at No. 32 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. He cracked this week’s field via sponsor’s invite. He was already down in the area for last week’s Puerto Rico Classic where he shared medalist honors. Dealing with a bit of wind during the opening round, Nimmer split eight (of 14) fairways on his way toward 12 greens in regulation. The ball-striking numbers don’t leap off the page but he swallowed just one bogey during his round so his short game was tidy and needed just 27 putts to make his way around Coco Beach Golf & Country Club. Gamers should keep a close eye on Nimmer as the week goes on as well as the next few years as he tries to make his way from the college ranks to professional golf.