Golf Heads to American Athletic Conference Championship

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Temple Golf heads to the 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championship, presented by Air Force Reserve this weekend with the first of three rounds at the par-71, 7,125-yard Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club set for Sunday.

All three days (April 21-23) of the championship can be followed via Golfstat, while the final round of the championship will also feature coverage on the American Digital Network beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Temple, seeded ninth, is paired with Wichita State (#10-seed) and tees off from the 10^th hole Sunday at 7:51 am.

Previewing the Owls

The Owls have six players at the Championship, including five seniors – John Barone, Gary McCabe, Erik Reisner, Sam Soeth and Trey Wren. Freshman Conor McGrath is the lone underclassman with the team in Florida.
Wren and Barone have led the Cherry and White all season with stroke averages of 72.0 and 72.4, respectively. Wren has six top 10 finishes, including four in the top five while Barone has three top five finishes and shared the title at the City 6.
Wren finished tied for 15^th at the AAC Championship in each of the last two seasons while Barone, McCabe, Reisner and Soeth have all competed in previous AAC Championships held on the Copperhead course.
Reisner has the third best average for the Owls at 74.6 with McCabe, who has been the team's hottest golfer of late, right behind at 74.7.
Freshman Conor McGrath (75.6), who has played 21 rounds, will complete Temple's starting five with Soeth available to compete in rounds two and three if needed.

The Field

USF is the four-time defending champion and the highest ranked team in the field at #38 by Golfstat.
Six AAC teams are ranked among the Top 100. USF is followed by SMU (57), UCF (79), Memphis (88), ECU (89) and Houston (98). Temple enters play at #153.
SMU sophomore Noah Goodwin, at #27, is the highest ranked player in the field. USF freshman Albin Bergstrom (27), Cincinnati senior Austin Squires (63) and SMU sophomore Mac Meissner (76) are also ranked in the Top 100.

Quotable (Head Coach Brian Quinn)

"This has been my favorite team to coach. These five seniors are tremendous young men and fine representatives of Temple University and Temple Golf. I will truly miss them when they are gone."
"If our guys manage their games effectively we have a chance to make some noise at the Championship. Trey and John are very capable of being in the mix, and Gary has been playing very well. I am looking forward to a great three days of golf."