IRVING, Texas – South Florida’s Albin Bergstrom earned unanimous league top player honors as part of the 2022 American Athletic Conference awards in men’s golf that were announced on Tuesday. The American Player of the Year, American Freshman of the Year and American Coach of the Year awards were voted on by the conference’s nine men’s golf head coaches.
Bergstrom became the third South Florida men’s golfer to be named American Player of the Year in conference history, while Houston’s Jacob Borow was recognized as the American Freshman of the Year. SMU head coach Chris Parra was named the American Coach of the Year after leading the Mustangs to a record-setting victory at the 2022 American Men’s Golf Championship on April 22-24 at Southern Hills Plantation Club in Brooksville, Florida.
A total of 13 players from six member institutions claimed 2022 all-conference honors. The first 10 all-conference players were decided by a popular vote of the head coaches in The American, with an additional three players who finished among the top-seven golfers and ties at the 2022 American Men’s Golf Championship also selected. Houston paced the conference with four all-conference selections, followed by UCF, Cincinnati, South Florida and SMU boasting two players each. Reigning American Men’s Golf Championship individual medalist Nathan Petronzio from SMU was one of eight unanimous choices on the all-conference squad.
Bergstrom was ranked 23rd in the most recent Golfstat national rankings following a dynamic regular season and conference tournament showing in his junior season at South Florida. Bergstrom joined Aksel Olsen (unanimous choice in 2016) and Claudio Correa (unanimous choice in 2018) as Bulls players to capture The American’s top individual men’s golf trophy. Over his first 11 starts of the 2021-22 season, Bergstrom posted a 69.27 stroke average and eight top-10 finishes that included third-place showings at the White Sands Bahamas Invitational on Oct. 29-31, the Florida Gators Invitational on Feb. 12-13 and the Colleton River Collegiate on March 7-8. The 2021 American Men’s Golf Championship medalist, Bergstrom shared fifth place in his title defense with rounds of 69-71-69=209 (-7) in April at Southern Hills Plantation Club.
Borow earned the first American Freshman of the Year honor for a Houston men’s golfer in his debut season of collegiate competition for the Cougars after redshirting last year. Borow played 11 times for Houston during the regular season and the conference tournament, highlighted by a tie for sixth place at the SHSU/Houston Individual Championship on April 19 and a share of eighth place at the Houston Classic on Feb. 7-8. Borow carded a pair of rounds at par or better on the way to a tie for 28th place at the 2022 American Men’s Golf Championship.
Parra claimed American Coach of the Year for the first time in his career after leading SMU to its first conference team championship since 2014 with a league record 54-hole score of 835 (282-277-276) to finish 29-under-par at Southern Hills Plantation Club. Along with Petronzio as the tournament medalist, 2021 American Player of the Year Noah Goodwin finished fourth to help guide SMU to the team title. The American Men’s Golf Championship was SMU’s second team win this season under Parra’s leadership, along with its own Trinity Forest Invitational on Oct. 4-5 in Dallas, and the Mustangs fashioned a tie for fourth place out of loaded field of 28 teams at The Goodwin in Palo Alto, California on March 24-26.
2022 American Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Awards
Player of the Year
Albin Bergstrom, Jr., South Florida*
Freshman of the Year
Jacob Borow, Houston
Coach of the Year
Chris Parra, SMU
All-Conference Team
Teddy Tetak, Sr., UCF*
Johnny Travale, Sr., UCF*
Sam Jean, Jr., Cincinnati*
Joey McCarthy, Sr., Cincinnati
Alexander Frances, Sr., Houston*
Austyn Reily, Jr., Houston
Braxton Watkins, Sr., Houston
Marcus Wochner, Jr., Houston
Tyran Snyders, So., Memphis*
Albin Bergstrom, Jr., South Florida*
Run Youprayong, So., South Florida
Noah Goodwin, Sr., SMU*
Nathan Petronzio, So., SMU*
*-denotes unanimous selection