Sophomore Massimo Mbetse cards a career best 2-under 70 in Friday’s opening round of the Carpet Capital Collegiate in Rocky Face, Ga.
USF men’s golf started its first tournament since making the program’s seventh straight NCAA Regional appearance in fourth place. The 15-team field will play 36 holes over the next two days.
ROCKY FACE, Ga., SEPT. 6, 2019 – Massimo Mbetse carded a career best 2-under 70 to lead the Bulls in their opening round of the fall season at the Carpet Capital Collegiate on Friday.
Mbetse is currently tied for third place in the 81-player field and two shots away from the lead with 36 more holes to play over the next two days at The Farm Golf Club (par 72, 7,180 yards). The sophomore from Bradenton, Fla./South Africa started in stride with a 2-under run on the front nine and shot par or better on 17 holes.
Fresh off its seventh straight NCAA Regional appearance, USF (+5) put together a fourth-place start at a tough tournament featuring four top-25 teams from last season and nine total programs that were ranked in the top 50 by Golfstat. Leader Georgia Tech (-4) was the only program in the 15-team field that broke par in Friday’s first round.
Luke Gifford posted USF’s second-best score of the day with a 1-over 73, which has the sophomore from Boca Raton, Fla., tied for 14th place. Gifford was bogey-free through his first seven holes on the way to carding an even-par score on the front nine.
Sophomore Albin Bergstrom (Ljunghusen, Sweden) and senior Ryoto Furuya (Alpharetta, Ga.) are two shots away from Gifford at 3-over. Bergstrom collected four of his five total birdies during a 1-under performance back nine. Furuya also shot 1-under on the back nine with two birdies.
USF Scores
| 4 | South Florida | 293 | 293 |
| T3 | Massimo Mbetse (2) | 70 | 70 |
| T14 | Luke Gifford (5) | 73 | 73 |
| T30 | Albin Bergstrom (1) | 75 | 75 |
| T30 | Ryoto Furuya (4) | 75 | 75 |
| T40 | Kyle Flexsenhar (3) | 76 | 76 |
Quotable
Head coach Steve Bradley on sophomore Massimo Mbetse’s team-leading opening round:
“He played pretty well in qualifying and he had yet to do anything like that in a tournament. I was excited to see how he would perform and he did a great job today. He played very solid all the way around and probably left a couple shots out there. When it looked like we were really struggling on the front side, he and Luke were really holding us together as a team, and then the guys played a little better on the back side to end up helping out. I’m very happy for Mass and I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles these next couple days. It’s part of the growth process.”
Bradley’s thoughts on where the Bulls stand in a talented field and how they showed mental toughness in Friday’s first round:
“Considering that Kyle, Albin and Ryo, our three best returners from last year, did not have particularly good days, I’m very happy with where we are. We’ve got 36 more holes to play and this is a very difficult and challenging golf course. If you look at the scores, it’s not often that only one team breaks par in this talented of a field. It should show you the severity of the golf course and I thought the guys did a really good job today of handling their emotions when things were going poorly. They dug in on that back nine.”
Notables
- Massimo Mbetse registered a career-best round of 2-under 70 Friday. The sophomore shot par or better on 17 of 18 holes. His previous career-low round was a 1-under 71 at the Georgia Southern Individual Collegiate on Feb. 3, 2019.
- All five Bulls in the lineup returned to action after helping the program earn its seventh consecutive trip to NCAA Regionals last spring.
- USF checked in at No. 26 in the Golfweek Division I Men’s Preseason rankings.
Up Next
Senior Kyle Flexsenhar (Lake Mary, Fla.) will lead off the Bulls’ second round on the first hole Saturday at 8:50 a.m.
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.
