UH dominated the AAC tournament, winning by 12 strokes and finishing with the top two individual players. | Ben Solomon/UH athletics
UH men’s golf comfortably took home the American Athletic Conference Championship over the weekend, finishing 12 strokes better than second-place Cincinnati.
The Cougars were led by outstanding performances from first-place junior Santiago De La Fuente and runner-up senior Austyn Reily.
It is the team’s first conference championship since 2013, and the first time that UH finished 1-2 in the individual rankings since 2000.
Round 1
The first day of the tournament was headlined by a record-setting round by Reily, whose astonishing three eagles in the first round gave him a 6-under 64 on the day. It was the lowest conference tournament in school history.
De La Fuente also posted a six-birdie, 66-stroke first round to end the day tied for second. Behind him were sophomores Wolfgang Glawe and Jacob Borow who each finished 1-over.
UH as a team finished the first day with an 8-under 272 and a five-stroke lead over first place.
Round 2
In the second day of action, De La Fuente came on to share the lead with Reily at 7-under. De La Fuente recorded a 3-under-par 67, with the difference being a stretch of three birdies in four holes.
Reily cooled off in his second round, but still put up a solid round of 69 including four straight birdies on holes 3-6.
Super senior Brandon Watkins bounced back from a 74-stroke first round to log an even-par 70 on day two.
The Cougars doubles their lead in the tournament on Saturday, going 2-under on the day and ending up with a 10-stroke advantage over second place.
Round 3
De La Fuente and the Cougars ran away with the championship on Sunday, clinching the tournament win.
After coming into the day tied for first with Reily, the junior separated himself on the back nine, where he holed four birdies and finished with another 67 to lock up the individual championship.
Reily stayed put on the leaderboards, shooting an even-par 70 and comfortably finishing in second-place at 7-under.
Watkins and Glawe were the other two Cougars to finish in the top 30, ending the tournament 5-over and 6-over, respectively.
Despite going 1-over as team in the final round, UH cruised to the AAC championship victory with a 9-under team total of 831.
The Cougars will now wait until the NCAA selection show on May 3 to see where they will play in the NCAA Regionals.
