The Bulls won their fifth AAC Championship and Bergstrom became the program’s fourth medalist.
BROOKSVILLE (April 25, 2021) – The USF Bulls claimed their fifth American Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championship on Sunday afternoon with a five-shot victory at Southern Hills Plantation Club. Sophomore Albin Bergstrom (Falsterbo, Sweden) fired a six-under-par 66 in the final round, finishing at 11-under-par to win the individual championship by three strokes.
The team championship is USF’s fifth in the last six seasons.
The Bulls collectively shot three-under-par 285 in Sunday’s finale to finish at 17-under for the tournament (847). The Bulls’ record-breaking performance in Friday’s opening round, coupled with a strong finish in round three was enough to hold off SMU who shot nine-under-par 279 on Sunday to finish at 12-under overall (852).
USF went wire-to-wire for the team triumph, and its final score of 847 (270-292-285) is the third-lowest in tournament history.
A 2018-19 All-American and the 2019 AAC Freshman of the Year, Bergstrom becomes the fourth Bull to claim individual medalist honors at the championship tournament. He joins Claudio Correa (2018), Askel Olsen (2016) and Ryan Fricker (2015).
Bergstrom entered Sunday’s finale tied for second, three shots off the lead, and finished with a three-shot victory, all while riding alongside the very player he was chasing, as the golfers played the final round in foursomes and drove carts due to forecast weather.
Bergstrom wasted little time making his medalist chase, carding a birdie off the first hole, and shooting four-under on the front nine, including a chip-in for eagle on the par-5 seventh hole. He moved to five-under after making the turn, but a pair of bogies on the back nine dropped him back to four-under with just three holes left to play. Bergstrom proceeded to birdie 16, par 17, and put the exclamation point on both the individual and team championships with a lengthy birdie from the fringe on 18.
Luke Gifford (Boca Raton) played a huge part in USF’s efforts to hold off SMU on Sunday with a final round of 69 (-3). The sophomore shot a season best 66 (-6) on Friday, but struggled on Saturday with a 79 (+7), before rebounding in a big way. Gifford finished tied for eighth individually at two-under-par 214.
Senior Kyle Flexsenhar (Lake Mary) matched Gifford with a 214 for the tournament to tie for eighth. Flexsenhar also carded a season low 66 in the Bulls’ blowout round on Friday. The veteran showed his poise on Sunday, after shooting four-over on the front nine, by playing even par for the first eight holes on the back and finishing with a birdie on 18.
Sam Nicholson (Atlantic Beach) concluded the tournament at three-over-par 219 to tie for 19th individually, and Runchanapong Youprayong (Bangkok, Thailand) was one shot behind at 220, which was good for a tie at 22nd. Both carded rounds of two-under-par 70 on Friday which staked USF to a 15-stroke lead after round one.
Notable
- USF led the field with 58 total birdies over the 54-hole tournament.
- The Bulls shot -23 on the par-5 holes this weekend, four strokes better than the next team.
- USF carded seven birdies over the final four holes on Sunday and collectively shot four-under on holes 15-18 on their charge to the clubhouse and the championship.
- The Bulls are now headed to their eighth consecutive NCAA Regional.
Quotable
Head coach Steve Bradley on winning the American Championship: “It feels like it’s been a long time [since winning the AAC in 2018]. It’s something we’ve talked about all spring. We’ve played a tough schedule, but we really haven’t played our best golf at all. To get our first tournament win since we left things before the pandemic last March, here at the conference championship, is pretty special. We battled through some adversity in the middle of yesterday’s round and the middle of today, but it was our play late that made the difference again. It was a great team effort for three rounds, and I’m just so proud of these guys. Our two best players really stepped up and carried us today.
On heading to the NCAA Regional: “Just from a confidence point of view, this win and the automatic bid are huge. We’re proud to be representing the American and are looking forward to it. It was great to see the self-belief in our guys, and the trust they had in each other as teammates this weekend. I think that’s a big reason we won, and it’s going to make a difference as we continue to play.”
Bergstrom on his individual championship: “It’s amazing, but more importantly, I’m happy with the team’s championship performance. I was just looking to two-putt that final hole, but that felt good to see it drop, and it was a fantastic finish. I hadn’t checked the score the whole round, so I didn’t know where I was at. I tried to play match play with my opponent because I knew he was leading coming in, but I also didn’t know the team score. When I came up to 18 and saw all my teammates though, I had a feeling we had won it.”
Gifford on his bounce-back effort in the final round: “Unfortunately, I struggled on the back nine yesterday, but that’s the beauty of golf, because I knew I’d have a chance to play again today. I knew if I could put together a good round that the rest of my teammates would also contribute, and we’d be able to celebrate after. It was a great day, and I’m happy that our team came away with the championship.”
Up Next
The NCAA Regionals are set for May 17-19. The Bulls will find out their regional destination when the field is announced on Wednesday, May 5 at 2 p.m.
About USF Men’s Golf
USF men’s golf program has captured 16 conference titles and seen players earn 18 All-America honors. From 2015-18 the Bulls captured four consecutive American Athletic Conference Championship titles in wire-to-wire fashion, had three individual conference champions and have 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 since taking over the program in 2014. The Bulls have posted 19 tournament wins under Bradley entering the 2021 season, by far the most under any coach in program history.
Follow @USFMGolf on Twitter for the latest information concerning the program.
– #GoBulls –
