CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
PALM HARBOR, Fla. - The 2019 American Athletic Conference Championship begins Sunday, April 21, at Innisbrook Resort with the three-day tournament held on the Copperhead Course.
The field will once again chase top-ranked USF which goes for a five-peat in 2019.
After SMU won the inaugural American Athletic Conference men's golf championship in 2014, the Bulls have rattled off four-straight league titles and will look to make it a fifth on Copperhead.
USF checks in as the topped ranked team in the latest Golfstat rankings and are led by freshman Albin Bergstrom. The first-year golfer from Ljunghusen, Sweden, has the Bulls ready to defend their quartet of titles.
SMU could be the Bulls biggest challengers with two golfers ranked in the top-76 of the Golfstat rankings, including the league's top-ranked golfer in Noah Goodwin. Mac Meissner, the top returning performer from last year's championship with a top-five performance, hopes to give the Mustangs enough firepower to challenge USF in 2019.
The depth of the American can be seen with four more teams in the top-100 of the Golfstat rankings with UCF, Memphis ECU and Houston all looking to charge up the conference standings next week.
Additionally, Cincinnati's Austin Squires, who ranked No. 63 in this week's GolfStat rankings and finished 13th at last year's championship.
UConn has also played well as of late as they boast the last two week's men's golf Player of the Week awards which includes the No. 8 finisher in last year's tournament, Jimmy Hervol.
Round One Tee Times
(#5) ECU, (#6) Houston 7:30-8:04 a.m. Tee #1
(#3) UCF, (#4) Memphis 8:13-8:47 a.m. Tee #1
(#1) USF, (#2) SMU 8:55-9:29 a.m. Tee #1
(#9) Temple, (#10) Wichita State 7:51-8:25 a.m. Tee #10
(#7) Cincinnati, (#8) UConn 8:34-9:08 a.m. Tee #10
Men's Team Top-100 Rankings
No. 38 USF
No. 57 SMU
No. 79 UCF
No. 88 Memphis
No. 89 ECU
No. 98 Houston
Men's Individual Top-100 Rankings
No. 27 - Noah Goodwin, SMU
No. 53 - Albin Bergstrom, USF
No. 63 - Austin Squires, Cincinnati
No. 76 - Mac Meissner, SMU