TOURNAMENT: NCAA Palm Beach Gardens Regional
WHEN: Monday, May 16 – Wednesday, May 18
LOCATION: Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
COURSE: PGA National Resort – Champion Course (Par 72, 7,048 yards)
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USF Men’s Golf Second After Day 1 of NCAA Palm Beach Gardens Regional
Sophomore Sam Nicholson Fires -4, 68 to stand second overall;
Bulls seek program’s fourth NCAA Championship berth, third in last eight years, among 14-team field in Palm Beach Gardens Regional
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA., MAY 16, 2022 – The University of South Florida Men’s Golf team got terrific play from sophomore Sam Nicholson as the Bulls posted an opening round 2-over par 290 to stand second and Nicholson stood second on the individual leaderboard after the first round of play at the NCAA Palm Beach Gardens Regional at the PGA National Resort – Champion Course Monday.
Making the program’s ninth-straight NCAA Regional appearance, USF took the team lead midway through the round as the Bulls made their way through the back nine and saw a flurry of four birdies through holes 10-13. Ultimately, a tough finishing stretch stymied the momentum and the Bulls top two players coming into the regional struggled to get going as No. 3-ranked Vanderbilt overtook USF on the back nine for the Day 1 lead.
USF (+2, 290) stands five shots behind the Commodores (-3, 285) and two ahead of No. 15 Notre Dame (+4, 292) in third among the 14-team field. Rounding out the top five, which qualify for the NCAA Championship, are Davidson (+5, 293) in fourth and No. 10 Florida (+6, 294) and Charleston (+6, 294) tied for fifth.
Nicholson (Atlantic Beach) continued the hot play that saw him post a final round 68 in the AAC Championship as he eagled the par 5, 488-yard sixth hole, posted birdies on 16 and 18 and did not surrender a bogey on the day on the par 72, 7,048-yard course. His opening round of 4-under par 68 is tied with two others one behind UNC-Greensboro’s Nick Lyerly (-5) for the individual lead.
Only nine players shot under par on the day and more than half the field of 75 players posted a 3-over par total or higher as the course played to a 75.49 average.
Bulls top player Albin Bergstrom (Falsterbo, Sweden), the 2022 AAC Player of the Year, struggled out of the gate with a five-over total through his first five holes. He got birdies on No. 9 and 15, but finished with three-straight bogeys for an 8-over par 80, the first round over 72 on the season for the player that logged a program record 30 rounds of par or better on the year.
Junior Luke Gifford (Boca Raton) birdied No. 10 and 13 to move to -1, but recorded bogeys on the very tough 14th and on 16 before closing with a birdie on the par 5, 556-yard 18th to finish with an even par round of 72 and tied for 10th.
Freshman Shubham Jaglan (Delhi, India), who posted a final round 67 in the AAC Championship, also got it to -1 on the back nine before settling for a 2-over par 74 and a tie for 22nd after a double-bogey on 17.
Meanwhile, AAC tournament runner-up Run Youprayong (Bangkok, Thailand) shot three over on the back nine to post a 4-over par total of 76 on the day.
Action continues on Tuesday and Wednesday in Palm Beach Gardens. The low five teams and the low individual not on one of 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), including reaching match play and posting a sixth-place finish in 2015 under five-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Steve Bradley.
NOTABLE
• 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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