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IRVING, Texas \u2013 South Florida and North Texas earned the league\u2019s top individual honors, while Charlotte claimed Coach of the Year as part of the 2026 American Conference Men\u2019s Golf awards, announced Tuesday. The American Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year awards were voted on by the conference\u2019s 11 men\u2019s golf head coaches.
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\nSouth Florida\u2019s Wilhelm Ryding became the fifth Bull to be named American Player of the Year\u2014and the third consecutive from the program\u2014while North Texas\u2019 Mitchell Maier earned the Mean Green\u2019s first American Freshman of the Year honor. Charlotte head coach Ryan Cabbage was named American Coach of the Year for the second straight season.
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\nRyding, ranked No. 59 in NCAA Division I according to Clippd, earned Player of the Year honors following an impressive campaign that included four top-three finishes. The junior posted a 69.1 scoring average across 29 rounds.
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\nMaier captured Freshman of the Year honors after a standout debut season. In 11 tournaments, he recorded a 71.3 scoring average, highlighted by a third-place finish at the American Conference Championship, where he shot 12-under-par 204.
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\nFollowing Charlotte\u2019s second consecutive American Conference Men\u2019s Golf Championship, Cabbage secured his second straight Coach of the Year honor. He guided the 49ers to a No. 19 national ranking in the Clippd standings. At the American Championship, Charlotte shot 48-under-par 816 to win the team title by 17 strokes. Across 10 tournaments, the 49ers recorded three top-three finishes.
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\nA total of 12 players from six member institutions earned All-Conference honors. Charlotte led all programs with five selections, including unanimous picks in sophomore Chase Cline and senior Justin Matthews. Ryding, along with Rice\u2019s Lukas Boandl, also earned unanimous All-Conference recognition.
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\n2026 American Conference Men\u2019s Golf Awards
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\nPlayer of the Year
\nWilhelm Ryding, Jr., South Florida
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\nFreshman of the Year
\nMitchell Maier, North Texas
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\nCoach of the Year
\nRyan Cabbage, Charlotte*
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\nAll-Conference
\nErik Olin, Gr., UAB
\nDaniel Boone, Jr., Charlotte
\nSeb Cave, Jr., Charlotte
\nChase Cline, So., Charlotte*
\nFrazer Jones, Jr., Charlotte
\nJustin Matthews, Sr., Charlotte*
\nDiego Lourenco, Jr., \u00a0Memphis
\nYixiang Wang, Jr., Memphis
\nMitchell Maier, Fr., North Texas
\nLukas Boandl, Sr., Rice*
\nDaniel Zou, So., Rice
\nWilhelm Ryding, Jr., South Florida*
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\n*denotes unanimous selection
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\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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