Junior Albin Bergstrom is the defending individual champion;
Bulls won their fifth AAC Championship in 2021
BROOKSVILLE, FLA., APRIL 21, 2022 – The USF men’s golf team has earned the No. 1 seed as the defending champion Bulls begin play in the 2022 American Athletic Conference Golf Championship Friday through Sunday at Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville, Fla.
USF junior Albin Bergstrom (Falsterbo, Sweden), who has been ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation and enters the weekend ranked No. 21, is also the defending individual champion. He shot a final round 66 to come from three shots off the lead and post an 11-under par (205) score to become the Bull’s fourth AAC Champion in 2021. He brings seven top 10 finishes and a program-record 27 rounds of par or better on the year into the weekend.
The Bulls claimed their fifth conference championship in the last six seasons in 2021, collectively shooting 17-under for the tournament (847) to post a five-stroke win over SMU. The Bulls posted a tournament record performance of 18-under par in the Friday opening round and went wire-to-wire for the team triumph and the third-lowest score in tournament history.
The Bulls, who enter the weekend ranked No. 42 by Golfstat, are the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament while SMU, ranked No. 43, is the No. 2 seed, and Houston, ranked No. 61, is the No. 3 seed. Golfers from those three teams will tee off in playing groups starting at 9:40 a.m. Friday on the par 72, 7,221-yard Southern Hills Plantation course.
Competition begins at 8:40 a.m. with No. 7-seed ECU, No. 8 Wichita State and No. 9 Temple playing groups going off the No. 1 tee. No. 4 UCF, No. 5 Cincinnati and No. 6 Memphis will go off starting at 8:50 a.m.
Bergstrom, who was recently named to the International Team for the Arnold Palmer Cup, is the top-ranked AAC player entering the tournament, with SMU’s Noah Godwin next at No. 62. Bergstrom’s current 69.23 scoring average on the year is on pace to set another USF record as he continues to build on his USF career record of 83 rounds of par or better.
For the AAC Championship, Bergstrom will be joined by junior Luke Gifford (Boca Raton), who shot a final round 69 and a 66 in the opening round of last year’s championship to finish tied for eighth at 2-under, junior Ian Peng (Chang Hua, Taiwan), sophomore Run Youprayong (Bangkok, Thailand), sophomore Sam Nicholson (Atlantic Beach) and freshman Shubham Jaglan (Delhi, India).
NOTABLE
• Junior Albin Bergstrom currently has the Bulls’ best-ever career scoring average (70.26), more than a stroke better than Chase Koepka’s previous mark of 71.53.
• Bergstrom’s 69.23 season scoring average is on pace to break his own USF record of 70.00 set in 2018-19.
• Bergstrom reached as high as the No. 4 ranking in early March and currently sits at No. 21. Chase Koepka owns the USF record of a No. 11 final season national scorer rating.
• Bergstrom is the highest ranked player the American Athletic Conference and third in the state of Florida.
• Bergstrom has 27 par or better rounds on the year and 83 on his career, setting a USF career mark and season record.
• Bergstrom also owns USF career records for scoring average (70.45), tournament low round (63, 2019-20), tournament low round to par (-9, 2019-20), tournament low 36-hole total (133, -11, 2018-19), and is second in wins (3) and low 54-hole total (201, -11, 2018-19).
About USF Men’s Golf
USF men’s golf program has captured 17 conference titles, including in 2021, and have seen players earn 19 All-America honors. The Bulls have won five of the last six American Athletic Conference Tournament championships in wire-to-wire fashion, winning four-consecutive from 2015-18. The Bulls have had four individual conference champions, including Albin Bergstrom in 2021, and gone on to earn eight straight NCAA Regionals appearances, including a 6th place finish in NCAA Championship match-play in 2015. USF is led by Steve Bradley, who has been named American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year five times since taking over the program in 2014. The Bulls have posted 20 tournament wins under Bradley entering the 2021-22 season, by far the most under any coach in program history.
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– #GoBulls –
