AAC Conference Player of Year Albin Bergstrom leads No. 7 seed Bulls
TAMPA, FLA., MAY 4, 2022 – The University of South Florida men’s golf team earned its ninth straight NCAA Regional bid Wednesday when the NCAA assigned the Bulls the No. 7 seed in the Palm Beach Gardens Regional.
The Bulls will play on the PGA National Resort – Champion Course, May 16-18 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. among a 14-team field that includes No. 1 regional seed Vanderbilt (the SEC Champion and No. 3 in the Golfstat rankings), Florida (#10), Notre Dame (#15), Florida State (#22), Purdue, New Mexico, Little Rock, College of Charleston, Indiana, San Diego, Davidson, Loyola Maryland and Charleston Southern. The Bulls stand No. 40 in the latest Golfstat rankings.
Led by five-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Steve Bradley and 2022 AAC Men’s Player of the Year Albin Bergstrom (Falsterbo, Sweden) the Bulls will look to build on their stellar 17-under par score in the final round of the AAC Championship that saw every player shoot -2 or better as the defending champion Bulls finished second to SMU.
Bergstrom, who finished fifth in the AAC Championship and was ranked No. 15 in the latest Velocity Global Rankings and No. 23 by Golfstat, was joined by sophomore Run Youprayong (Bangkok, Thailand), who finished second in the conference championship, on the 2022 All-Conference Team.
Six 54-hole NCAA regional tournaments will be conducted May 16-18. Thirteen teams and 10 individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA finals.
The 2022 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship will be held on May 27-June 1 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Bulls have advanced to the NCAA Championship three times (1987, 2015 and 2016).
NOTABLE
• Albin Bergstrom, a unanimous selection as conference player of the year, set a USF program record firing 30 rounds of par or better on the year, including three in the conference championship as the defending champion finished fifth overall with a 7-under par total of 209 to mark his eighth top 10 finish of the year.
• Bergstrom finished the regular season ranked No. 23 in the nation on Golfstat and No. 15 in the Velocity Global Rankings, after reaching as high as No. 4, with a 70.16 adjusted scoring average making him the second-highest ranked player in the state of Florida and the highest in the AAC by 37 spots.
• Bergstrom set a program record reaching 86 rounds of par or better on his career this season and his current scoring average of 69.27 on the year over 11 tournaments and 33 rounds, including 19 rounds in the 60’s, is on pace to break his own program record for lowest season scoring average.
• The 2019 AAC Freshman of the Year, Bergstrom made his third all-conference team appearance.
• Bergstrom joined Claudio Correa (2018, AAC), Aksel Olsen (2016, AAC), Chase Koepka (2013, Big East) and Jim Fee (1985, Conference USA) among the Bulls’ previous conference player of the year honorees.
• Run Youprayong fired a 5-under par 67 in the final round of the AAC Championship to post an 11-under total of 205 to tie for second with rounds of 71, 67 and 67.
• Youprayong earned his first all-conference team selection after finishing second on the USF team with a 71.61 stroke average, 17 rounds of par or better on the year and five top 25 finishes.
• Bergstrom currently has the Bulls’ best-ever career scoring average (70.24), more than a stroke better than Chase Koepka’s previous record mark of 71.53.
• Bergstrom’s 69.27 season scoring average is on pace to break his own USF record of 70.00 set in 2018-19.
• Bergstrom also owns USF career records for scoring average (70.24), 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 seven 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 have earned nine straight NCAA Regional appearances, including posting 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 –
