PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Three teams and four individuals from the American Athletic Conference are headed to the NCAA Men's Golf Regionals as announced during the Wednesday night selection show. The 2019 American champions Memphis, along with USF and SMU were selected as teams. Cincinnati's Austin Squires, UCF's Bobby Bai and Kyler Tate, and UConn's Jimmy Hervol will compete as individuals.
Memphis opens play as the No. 11 seed in the 2019 NCAA Division 1 Men's Golf Championships May 13 at the Athens (Georgia) Regional, the Tigers' first trip to the NCAA regionals since 2016. The Tigers earned the postseason invitation by winning the American Athletic Conference Championship last week at Palm Harbor, Fla. Memphis won its first American title by finishing at even-par 852, or 12 strokes better than runner-up SMU. Four-time defending champion USF was 18 strokes back.
SMU and American Athletic Conference individual champion Mac Meissner, were been selected as the No. 10 seed in the Athens Regional at the UGA Golf Course May. The Mustangs make their 24th appearance at the NCAA regional, this being the first time since winning the Noblesville Regional in 2015. The top five teams and the low individual, not in the top 5 teams, from each regional will advance to the finals which will be played May 23-29 in Fayetteville, Ark., on the Blessings Golf Course.
The No. 6-seeded USF Bulls were one of 13 teams selected to compete in the Stanford Regional that will take place Monday, May 13 through Wednesday, May 15 at Stanford Golf Course. USF earned its seventh consecutive trip to NCAA Regionals with a new-look lineup led by American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Albin Bergstrom. All-conference teammate Kyle Flexsenhar is the lone Bull remaining from last year's squad that competed in the Kissimmee, Fla., Regional.
For the second time in three seasons, Cincinnati senior Austin Squires will participate as an individual in the NCAA Men's Golf Championship Regionals. He was selected Wednesday to play in the Stanford Regional on May 13-15 at the Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif. The selection makes Squires the first player in school history to earn multiple NCAA Tournament appearances. He first qualified for the event as an individual in 2017, producing the highest finish in program history by tying for 21st place (7-over 223) in West Lafayette, Ind.
For the third consecutive year, Tate and Bai are headed to the postseason. The pair were selected to compete in the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional as individuals due to their impressive performances this past season. The three-day event will be held at TPC Myrtle Beach, S.C. The duo was just named to American Athletic Conference All-Conference honors earlier on Wednesday as two of the top performers in The American.
UConn's Hervol is the first UConn individual player to earn a spot in the NCAAs since Rich Pepin in 1992. Hervol, a two-time UConn co-captain, will head for the University of Louisville Golf Club (Simpsonville, Ky.) on May 13-15, one of six regional tournament sites. Hervol set a UConn record in 2018-19 with a 71.06 per round average for 32 rounds, earning eight Top 10 and nine Top 20 Finishes in the Huskies' 11 events. He had 20 rounds of par-or-better and nine sub-70 rounds.