Bulls travel to Indiana for eighth straight NCAA Regional appearance

Bulls travel to Indiana for eighth straight NCAA Regional appearance

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USF is the No. 6 seed in the Noblesville, Ind. Regional.

TOURNAMENT: NCAA Men's Golf Noblesville Regional
WHEN: Monday, May 17-Wednesday, May 19
LOCATION: Noblesville, Ind.
COURSE: The Sagamore Club (Par 72, 7,173 yards)
FOLLOW: Live Scoring | Twitter @USFMGolf

TAMPA (May 14, 2021) – The University of South Florida men's golf team is set to tee off in its eighth consecutive NCAA Regional beginning on Monday, May 17 in Noblesville, Ind. at The Sagamore Club – a Jack Nicklaus Signature course.
 
The Noblesville Regional is one of six regional sites across the country that will feature a 54-hole tournament played from May 17-19. Three regional tournaments will be comprised of 13 teams while the other three will feature a 14-team field.
 
The low five teams along with the lowest-scoring individual not on one those teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA finals.
 
The teams will hit the links on Monday at 8 a.m. with players teeing off at the first and 10th holes. Tuesday's tee time is also 8 a.m. with Wednesday's final round beginning at 7:30 a.m. Pairings along with complete team/player tee times are expected to be posted this weekend.
 
The Noblesville Field
 
USF is the No. 6 seed in the 13-team Noblesville Regional and is one of four conference champions to earn an automatic bid to the tournament. The remaining eight teams were at-large selections. USF's Albin Bergstrom is one of five participants in the field to have won medalist honors at their respective conference tournament championships.  
 
Below is the complete list of teams set to compete at The Sagamore Club (listed in seeding order):
 
No. 1 Texas (at-large) – Ranked No. 5 by Golfstat. The Longhorns finished third at the Big 12 Championship. Cole Hammer was the individual medalist at the Big 12 Championship.
 
No. 2 North Carolina (at-large) – Ranked No. 8 by Golfstat. The Tar Heels fell in the match play semifinals of the ACC Championship after leading the field in stroke play. Peter Fountain won ACC individual medalist honors.
 
No. 3 Tennessee (at-large) – Ranked No. 18 by Golfstat. The Vols fell in the match play quarterfinals of the SEC Championship after tying for second in stroke play.  
 
No. 4 North Florida (at-large) – Ranked No. 19 by Golfstat. The Ospreys finished fourth in the ASUN Championship.
 
No. 5 Louisville (at-large) – Ranked No. 28 by Golfstat. The Cardinals placed ninth in stroke play at the ACC Championship and did not advance to match play.
 
No. 6 South Florida (auto) – Ranked No. 36 by Golfstat. The Bulls won the American Championship and Bergstrom claimed medalist honors.
 
No. 7 UAB (at-large) – Ranked No. 38 by Golfstat. The Blazers finished third in stroke play at the C-USA Championship and fell in the semifinals of match play.
 
No. 8 Duke (at-large) – Ranked No. 43 by Golfstat. The Blue Devils finished eighth in stroke play of the ACC Championship and did not qualify for the match play finals.
 
No. 9 UNCW (at-large) – Ranked No. 53 by Golfstat. The Seahawks of North Carolina Wilmington had to withdraw from the Colonial Athletic Association Championship due to COVID-19 protocols.
 
No. 10 Arkansas State (at-large) – Ranked No. 61 by Golfstat. The Red Wolves finished fifth in stroke play at the Sun Belt Championship and missed the cut for match play.
 
No. 11 Campbell (auto) – Ranked No. 74 by Golfstat. The Camels tied for first during stroke play and went on to win the Big South Championship in match play.
 
No. 12 UT Martin (auto) – Ranked No. 154 by Golfstat. The Skyhawks won the Ohio Valley Conference Championship and Jack Story claimed individual medalist honors.
 
No. 13 Loyal Chicago (auto) – Ranked No. 207 by Golfstat. The Ramblers won the Missouri Valley Conference Championship and Devin Johnson was the induvial medalist.
 
The Bulls
 
Led by the five-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Steve Bradley, USF is coming off a wire-to-wire finish at the AAC Championship. The Bulls set a new conference tournament record by shooting 18-under-par 270 in the opening round. USF ultimately won the tournament title by a five-stroke margin with a score of 17-under-par 847 – the third-lowest tally in tournament history.
 
The 2021 American Championship marked the fifth conference title in the last six seasons for USF.
 
Albin Bergstrom (Falsterbo, Sweden) entered the final round of the AAC Championship three shots off the lead and prevailed with a three-stroke victory to claim medalist honors (fourth in program history). The exclamation point of his final round 6-under-par 66 came on the 18th hole where he sank a 50-foot birdie putt from the fringe to ignite the celebration with his teammates and coaches watching it fall in the cup.
 
A unanimous 2021 All-Conference selection, Bergstrom leads the Bulls this season with a 70.25 scoring average. He has carded rounds of par or better in 18 of his 24 rounds, and placed in the top 25 in seven of USF's eight outings this spring, including three top-10 performances.  


 
Luke Gifford (Boca Raton), another unanimous All-Conference honoree, tied for eighth at the American Championship. The sophomore carded a season-low round of 66 (-6) in the opening round of the tournament to help stake the Bulls to their massive early lead. Gifford scuffled in the second round, but bounced back in the final round with a three-under-par 69 as USF fended off the rest of the field.
 
Gifford owns a scoring average of 71.50 this season and has carded 16 rounds of par or better.
 
Sam Nicholson (Atlantic Beach) ranks third on the team in scoring average this year (72.75). The freshman tied for 19th at the AAC Championship. Nicholson has recorded 10 rounds of par or better this season, and has carded lows of 67 (round) and 207 (tournament).
 
The Bulls' veteran, Kyle Flexsenhar (Lake Mary), posted a scoring average of 72.78 this spring. The senior shot an opening round 6-under-par 66 (season low) at the American Championship and finished tied for eighth overall. Flexsenhar has carded nine rounds of par or better on the year.
 
Runchanapong Youprayong (Bangkok, Thailand) will round out USF's regional lineup. The freshman tied for 22nd at the AAC Championship as all five Bulls placed inside the top 25. Youprayong has a scoring average of 73.21 this seasons and has carded rounds of par or better seven times.
 
Up Next
 
The top five teams and the lowest-scoring individual not on one of those teams from the Noblesville Regional will advance to the NCAA Championship. The NCAA finals are set for May 28-June 2 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Bulls have advanced to the NCAA Championship three times in program history (1987, 2015 and 2016).
 
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 –

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