IRVING, Texas – For the second straight season the American Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championship will be contested at the beautiful Southern Hills Plantation Club in Brooksville, Florida. The 2022 American Men’s Golf Championship is scheduled for April 22-24, with each of The American’s nine teams competing in daily trios. Sunday’s final round is expected to air live on ESPN+.
The opening round on April 22 is set to begin with No. 7 seed East Carolina, No. 8 seed Wichita State and No. 9 seed Temple teeing off of the first hole between 8-8:40 a.m. (ET). No. 4 seed UCF, No. 5 seed Cincinnati and No. 6 seed Memphis will follow with groups starting from 8:50-9:30 a.m. (ET). No. 1 seed South Florida, No. 2 seed SMU and No. 3 seed Houston open round one between 9:40-10:20 a.m. (ET) at number one. Teams will be re-paired based on cumulative score for both rounds two and three.
AMERICAN MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP DUE FOR AN ENCORE AT SOUTHERN HILLS PLANTATION CLUB
The American Men’s Golf Championship returns to the Southern Hills Plantation Golf Club in Brooksville, Florida for the second straight year. The course will play at a par-72 and measure approximately 7,274 yards for the weekend. South Florida captured the 2021 American Men’s Golf Championship at Southern Hills Plantation Club after firing a three-round score of 847 (-17) to defeat SMU (852, -12) by five strokes.
Southern Hills Plantation Club was designed by renowned golf course architect Pete Dye and opened for play in 2006. The club has hosted both PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school tournaments and has served as a Monday qualifier site for the PGA TOUR’s Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida.
SOUTH FLORIDA LOOKING FOR A SECOND STRAIGHT FAST START
A central part of South Florida’s fifth overall American Men’s Golf Championship victory in 2021 was a terrific start in the opening round at Southern Hills Plantation Club. The Bulls carded a tournament-record 18-under-par 270 to kick off last season’s championship and stake claim to a 15-shot lead out of the gate.
Junior Albin Bergstrom posted the second-best 54-hole total in tournament history with a score of 205 (68-71-66) to win by three at 11-under-par for South Florida one year ago. Bergstrom can become the first repeat American Men’s Golf Championship medalist if he is able to defend his title at Southern Hills Plantation Club.
IS THIS THE YEAR FOR THE MUSTANGS TO HOIST THE TROPHY ONCE MORE?
Following three straight runner—up finishes in the conference tournament team draw, SMU enters the 2022 American Men’s Golf Championship looking for a return to the top of the Sunday leaderboard for the first time in eight years. The Mustangs were just five shots off the pace against South Florida in 2021 at Southern Hills Plantation Club and finished 12 strokes behind Memphis at the 2019 conference tournament and 20 shots behind South Florida in 2018 when both events were held at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort. SMU has seen two individual medalists at the American Men’s Golf Championship since 2014, with Mac Meissner claiming the win by six shots in 2019. The inaugural American individual champion was SMU’s Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion and eight-time winner on the PGA TOUR, in 2014 at Innisbrook.
WHERE TEAMS FROM THE AMERICAN STAND IN THE LATEST GOLFSTAT RANKINGS
South Florida enters the American Men’s Golf Championship slotted 42nd in the latest Golfstat team rankings on April 19 to pace the conference. SMU (43), Houston (61), UCF (68), Cincinnati (72) and Memphis (100) were also ranked in the team top 100 entering the American Men’s Golf Championship.
South Florida’s Albin Bergstrom is the current top-ranked individual in The American, entering the American Men’s Championship slotted 21st in the latest Golfstat rankings. SMU’s Noah Goodwin checked in 62nd in the most recent Golfstat report to join Bergstrom among the nation’s top 100 players.