BROOKSVILLE, Fla. – No. 20 SMU finished second at the 2021 American Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championship. Noah Goodwin tied for second individually at -8, shooting a final-round 68.
 
The Mustangs, who shot -9 as a team in Sunday's third round, went under par each of the three rounds at Southern Hills to finish at -12. SMU entered the round 11 strokes behind leader South Florida, and closed the deficit to as few as three strokes coming down the stretch. The Bulls had a pair of birdies on the finishing hole, bringing their total to -17, and five strokes ahead of SMU.
 
"I'm proud of how the guys really fought hard today," head coach Chris Parra said. "We battled back to put some pressure on USF, but we came up just a little short of the win. We're looking forward to NCAA Regionals."
 
Goodwin made a charge on the back-nine of the 7,221-yard Pete Dye design, shooting a bogey-free -4 coming in. Goodwin stood on the 54^th tee on the tournament with a chance to take home medalist honors, two strokes behind eventual winner Albin Bergstrom of South Florida, but Bergstrom birdied to win the tournament at -11. Goodwin had a tournament-high 17 birdies over the three under-par rounds to post his fourth top-5 finish in six events this season.
 
Nathan Petronzio had a successful first visit to the AAC Championship, shooting par-or-better each day to finish -2 and tied for eighth. The freshman used 71 strokes in the final round to post his second top-10 of the season, and was one of three players in the field, joining his teammate Goodwin, to finish the week under-par on par 3 holes.
 
Ollie Osborne also went par-or-better each day, finishing in solo-11^th at -1. Osborne had four birdies in his final-round 71, including one on the par-5 16^th that saw him pitch the ball to a few feet of the hole to tap in. The solo-11^th finish marks Osborne's best finish since the Trinity Forest Invitational (Mar. 7-9) and his top result in two visits to the American Athletic Conference Championship.
 
Mac Meissner had his best round of the tournament Sunday, and joined Goodwin as Mustangs who turned in scorecards in the 60s, with a final-round 69. Meissner had five birdies in the closing round, finishing the tournament tied for 15^th at +1.
 
Dawson Ovard signed for a 3-over 75 to conclude the tournament tied for 31^st at +7. Ovard birdied the par-5 12^th during the final round, one of his seven on the week at the par 72 layout.

The Mustangs expect to be selected to one of six NCAA Regional sites, with the competition taking place May 16-19.