PGA Tour players from Clemson are huge Trevor Lawrence fans

Want to stump Ben Martin?

Ask him to name the best quarterback in the history of his alma mater, Clemson University.

"Man, it's got to be either Trevor Lawrence or Deshaun Watson, right?" Martin said earlier this week while talking football in the TPC Sawgrass locker room. "Both won the national championship. But Trevor was the No. 1 overall pick and if he's not the best, he's in the conversation."

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But Martin, who contended for the 2015 Players Championship said he may be leaning more towards Lawrence after the season he just had, leading the Jaguars to the AFC South Division title, a victory in the playoffs and the team's first winning record since 2017.

"It was cool to see Trevor play so well under the new coaching staff after the disaster that was his rookie season," Martin said of the 2021 Jaguars under former coach Urban Meyer. "I think it spoke a lot to [Lawrence's] mindset that he was able to bounce back from that and have a good progression from year one two year two."

Martin, who was born in South Carolina, said there's no doubt where his NFL allegiance is now.

"The Jaguars ... are you kidding me," he said. "I'm a big Jags fan now."

There were three former Clemson golfers in the field for this week's Players Championship, Martin, Doc Redman and Lucas Glover. There's a bit of an age gap between Glover (43 years old), Martin (35) and Lawrence, who is only 23.

Martin said he's never met Lawrence but not only wants to in the future but would love to make it a round of golf.

Lawrence is an avid golf fan, so that could happen. Since being drafted by the Jaguars he's attended the Masters and The Players Championship, and made an appearance at the TPC Sawgrass last Tuesday to chat with world No. 1-ranked Jon Rahm and attend the Military Appreciation Day Riley Green concert. 

Redman, who lives in Jacksonville Beach, is not only closer in age to Lawrence (25) but he's met him. They haven't hit the links yet but he said they've talked about it.

Like Martin, Redman is a huge fan of Lawrence and now the Jaguars.

"It's awesome the way the city got behind him and the team," Redman said. "He got a good coach who can help him reach his potential and I hope he can keep getting better. It's really cool to see."

Redman also struggles with the issue of who was a better college quarterback, Watson or Lawrence.

"That is really tough," he said. "Deshaun's teams were almost unbeatable. They were awesome. But Trevor showed everyone a lot this year, overcoming the adversity of his rookie season and finishing the season strong."

Redman is looking forward to a combination of talking football with Lawrence and playing golf.

"We've talked about it playing around here sometime soon," he said. "That will be fun."

Like any world-class athlete, PGA Tour players have an appreciation for a combination of skill and mental toughness. Martin said Lawrence has both of those qualities in abundance.

"I was watching the [Chargers] playoff game while I was in Hawaii [for the Sony Open, in Honolulu]," he said. "That was unbelievable. Trevor's got that mentality. I thought if they could score just one touchdown before halftime they could come back and that's exactly what they did. I didn't grow up a Jaguars fan but I became one pretty quick this season."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour players from Clemson have become Jags fans, thanks to Trevor Lawrence