Clemson grads unite for ultimate golf buddy trip at The Open in Scotland

Hang around the 152nd Open Championship’s huge clothing and souvenir venue, aka “The Shop,” and you can see people from all over the world.

On Saturday, you might’ve run into a pair of buddies and Clemson graduates who came from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean to share a week at Royal Troon.

Austin Specter, 32, a former Columbia resident who attended Spring Valley High School, was on a business trip to Zurich, Switzerland, when the idea of flying to Scotland for the final major championship of 2024 struck him as a great idea. So great, in fact, that he reached out to a fellow 2013 Clemson graduate, David Mintz, and convinced him to come from New York City.

“I said, ‘Hey, it’ll be a great experience,’ ” Specter said. “I said, ‘Let’s go to the Open and also go play golf.’ ” And they did, enjoying rounds at such famed Scottish courses as Turnberry, Dumbarnie and Kingsbarns.

Specter also invited his wife, Emily, to fly from their Pensacola, Florida home to join the adventure. At first, she accepted, but then had a change of heart due to a case of mistaken identity.

“I said, ‘Hey, do you want to come to the British Open?’ and she said yes,” he said. “But when I told her more, she said, ‘no way.’ ”

Why not?

“She’s a tennis person,” Specter said. “She thought I was talking about Wimbledon.”