USF’s 11-tournament run during the regular season will prepare the program well for The American Championship, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championship.
The Bulls will compete on numerous PGA Tour event golf courses and also co-host The Challenge at Concession March 9-10.
TAMPA, JULY 10, 2019 – After making the program’s seventh straight NCAA Regional appearance, USF men’s golf will be even better prepared for the postseason thanks to the challenging 2019-20 schedule released Wednesday by head coach Steve Bradley.
USF’s 11-tournament run during the regular season will send the team to states where upcoming NCAA postseason action is set to take place in addition to the Bulls getting a sneak preview of The American Men’s Golf Championship site.
“I wanted to increase the strength of schedule, but I also wanted to diversify what we’re doing, just based off where we might go for regionals and where the NCAA Championship is,” Bradley said. “I’m very happy with the schedule. I think the guys are going to look forward to the challenges it presents because it’s certainly been ratcheted up a couple notches from last year.”
The Bulls open their tough schedule in the fall with Georgia Tech’s Carpet Capital Collegiate Sept. 6-9 at The Farm in Dalton, Ga. The field for the 31st edition of the event features nine teams ranked in the top 50 nationally last season, including No. 11 Clemson, No. 12 Georgia Tech, No. 17 South Carolina and No. 19 North Florida.
“That’s a pretty steep challenge right out of the box,” Bradley said. “It will feature a very good field and we leave 10 days after the start of school. We’ve got to get after it right away.”
USF will compete once again in the Windon Memorial Classic (Sept. 16-17) in Lake Forest, Ill. This year’s event will take place at Conway Farms Golf Club, which hosted the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
The Bulls’ five-tournament fall continues Oct. 6-8 in Hartford, Wisc., with the Marquette Intercollegiate at Erin Hills Golf Course, the host site of the 2017 U.S. Open Championship. USF will head back to Vero Beach, Fla., for the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational (Oct. 20-21), an event the Bulls won in 2017 before earning runner-up honors last season.
The fall schedule concludes with The Intercollegiate at Innisbrook Oct. 28-29 in Palm Harbor, Fla. The popular Copperhead Course is again the host site of The American Championshipthat’s set for April 26-28.
“All the teams in the conference got waivers, so we can play out there before the postseason,” Bradley said. “It will be nice to play relatively close to home on a golf course that I think will prepare us for The American Championship.”
USF has six regular season events on its slate for the spring, starting with the Florida Gators Invitational Feb. 16-17 at Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville. The Bulls have taken part in the tournament every spring for the past five seasons and captured titles in 2015 and 2016.
Speaking of titles, the Bulls will look to defend theirs at the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate March 2-3 at Fort Lauderdale Country Club. Last season, USF won the event in wire-to-wire fashion while Division I PING All-America honorable mention Albin Bergstrom set the program’s new 54-hole scoring record for a par-72 tournament as a freshman on the way to earning medalist honors.
Bulls fans will be able to watch the team in the Bay area when USF co-hosts The Challenge at Concession March 9-10 in Bradenton. Ohio State also will host the event that will include at least 10 programs at Concession Golf Club, where the Bulls advanced to the match play quarterfinals in the 2015 NCAA Championship.
“It will be great playing close to home on another solid golf course,” Bradley said. “I’m not sure if any of our guys have really played that golf course in competition, so that poses some unique challenges for us.”
Another huge challenge on the Bulls’ schedule is the Valspar Invitational March 15-17 at Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City. The program’s young squad played in the event last season that featured six top-10 programs and a total of 10 in the top 25.
“It’s one of the top two or three tournaments in all of college golf from a field point of view,” Bradley said.
USF will get an experience like no other in Augusta, Ga., at the beginning of the final month of the regular season. The Bulls will compete in the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational April 4-5 at Forest Hills Golf Club before an unforgettable day at Augusta National Golf Club.
“The perks for that event are Monday practice round tickets to the Masters,” Bradley said. “That’s something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives and that’s part of what our responsibility is.”
The Bulls will wrap up the regular season in Phoenix at Arizona State’s Thunderbird Collegiate April 17-18 at Papago Golf Course.
“It’s a brand-new event for us and the thought behind that is the national championship is in Arizona this year,” Bradley said. “It’s desert golf and we’ll get a chance to see that.”
Following The American Championship (April 26-28), USF will look to continue its NCAA Regional tradition May 13-15. Host schools for the postseason are Auburn, San Diego, LSU, Clemson, Oklahoma and Michigan State.
After adding even more talent to the roster, USF hopes to make an appearance in the NCAA Championship that’s set for May 29-June 3 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Overall, USF’s 2019-20 season schedule is packed with courses, fields and conditions that will get the program ready for whatever challenges the postseason presents.
“All the tournaments we’re playing, there’s some sort of agenda with what we’re trying to accomplish,” Bradley said.
About USF Men’s Golf
USF men’s golf captured four consecutive American Athletic Conference Championship titles in wire-to-wire fashion prior to 2019 and has earned seven straight trips to NCAA Regionals. The program is led by Steve Bradley, who has been named American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year four times. Follow @USFMGolf on Twitter for the latest information concerning the program.
Tom Zebold
Senior Writer, Assistant Director of Communications
University of South Florida Athletics
GoUSFBulls.com
Twitter: @TomZeboldUSF
