USF Athletics

Young Bulls Build Lots of Momentum for Future in 2019-20

April 07, 2020

By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, APRIL 7, 2020 – Next season can't get here soon enough for a surging USF men's golf program that finished its 2019-20 campaign in stride.

On a sunny afternoon in Bradenton, Fla., student-athletes and coaches smiled for a photo together while senior Kyle Flexsenhar held a shiny tournament trophy after the Bulls posted a wire-to-wire win at The Challenge at Concession on March 10.

Just days later, USF and the rest of the NCAA spring sports world found out the season had to be cut short for precautionary reasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I really felt we were playing our best golf of the entire year," head coach Steve Bradley said.

USF's path to producing at a high level started back in the fall after a disappointing finish in the opener. Bradley was proud to see the roster that included six underclassmen respond well with seven straight finishes in fourth place or better.

"We played fairly solid and fairly consistent this year. I was impressed because we played six different lineups in the eight events we had this year, which also speaks to the depth of the team," Bradley said. "It's certainly a nice thing. Everybody was trying to make everybody else better because they all wanted to get in the top five."

Following the first fall event, USF put together third- and fourth-place performances at the Windon Memorial Classic and Marquette Intercollegiate, and earned runner-up honors at the Quail Valley Intercollegiate on Oct. 21. Bradley's Bulls placed third three more times before extending a very notable program streak.

Thanks to a 13-shot victory at The Challenge at Concession, USF continued its stretch of capturing at least one tournament title in each season since Bradley's program debut in 2014-15. The winningest coach in program history has led the Bulls to 19 total victories - 2014-15 (5), 2015-16 (4), 2016-17 (2), 2017-18 (5), 2018-19 (2), 2019-20 (1).

"I think that was huge for us, just from a confidence standpoint and where we were building towards," Bradley said.

Unfortunately, USF wasn't able to shoot for its fifth American Athletic Conference Championship victory in a six-season span, or book the program's eighth straight trip to NCAA Regionals.

Three more regular-season tournaments remained on the schedule, but the Bulls certainly understood "the gravity of the situation."

"Overall, I'm very happy with how the season went. The frustrating part is the events we had coming up were probably our best events from a strength of field point of view," Bradley said. "I think we were playing pretty good going into the hardest part of our season. I think we were all looking forward to challenging ourselves and seeing how we were stacking up."

Several Underclassmen Step Up
Underclassmen made up a majority of USF's 2019-20 roster and two sophomores stole the show.

Luke Gifford finished the season as the team leader in scoring average (71.04), rounds of par or better (15) and top-10 finishes (6). Tying for third in the final two events, the Boca Raton, Fla., native registered four top-five finishes overall and was a Marquette Intercollegiate co-medalist on Oct. 8.

"Luke's game in the last three or four years has just really shot through the roof," Bradley said.

Showing his toughness throughout the season, fellow sophomore Albin Bergstrom tied Gifford for the team lead with seven top-25 performances in eight events.

An All-American last spring, Bergstrom ended up ranking second on the squad in season scoring average (71.58), rounds of par or better (12) and top-10 finishes (5). The standout from Ljunghusen, Sweden has two individual collegiate titles to his credit after earning co-medalist honors at the Windon Memorial Classic on Sept. 17.

"Albin did a pretty good job of following up a sensational freshman campaign," Bradley said. "He battled an injury throughout the fall and I was very impressed with how he handled himself. He essentially went through months without hitting a golf ball before the spring season."

Meanwhile, freshman Runchanapong Youprayong (Bangkok, Thailand) stepped up right away with a 73.05 scoring average and three top-25 finishes. Steadily improving sophomore Massimo Mbetse (Bradenton, Fla./South Africa) also stood out to coaches in the midst of tying for third on the team with four top-25 showings and eight rounds of par or better.

Bulls' Future Looks Bright
Although its only April, Bradley and assistant coach Brad Caldwell are eagerly gearing up for next season because of who the Bulls bring back and bring in.

It's possible USF could return its lone senior, Kyle Flexsenhar, after the NCAA Division I Council voted to allow schools to provide spring sport student-athletes an additional season of competition and an extension of their period of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Flexsenhar was dependable as usual this season with a 73.05 scoring average, two top-10 finishes and four top-25 showings in addition to qualifying for the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada. With 110 rounds of experience, the Lake Mary, Fla., native also served as the go-to person for guidance on a young Bulls team.

"We were impressed with him, especially this spring season with some leadership qualities he had," said Bradley.

Coaches are happy to have junior transfer and first-year Bull Cole Castro (Homestead, Fla.) continuing his time with the program after teeing off in 12 rounds this season. Bradley also wants to see how freshman Sam Nicholson (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) will progress with 21 rounds of experience.

Competition for a lineup spot will heat up even more next season with incoming freshman Luc Breuer entering the mix. The German junior national team member won the national championship in his age group twice (2016-17) before signing with the Bulls in November.

"I'm looking forward to coaching this squad and I know Brad is ready to get after it next year because I think it's got the potential to be really, really good," Bradley said.
 
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.