Liberty Golf Finishes Fifth Against Strong Opposition in Second Competition

The Flames No. 25 golf team played in its second tournament of the season Sept. 13-15 at the 2021 Maridoe Collegiate Invitational in Texas, netting a fifth-place finish, which was the team’s first top five finish of the season. 

The competition field included 15 teams with Liberty competing against seven other teams who were listed in the Golfweek preseason top 25. 

No. 7 Oklahoma took the title with a 3-under-par 216 (73-71-72) winning score. On such a hot field, Head Coach Jeff Thomas was ultimately satisfied with the result. 

“We played probably one of our strongest tournaments of the year besides postseason,”  Thomas said. “We had a chance to play a little better and finish a little stronger, but that’s okay because we finished fifth, and we are happy with that.”

Kieran Vincent was the most dominant on the scoresheet for Liberty with an even par 216 (73-71-22), which was good for seventh place. The redshirt senior’s performance in the tournament made him ASUN Men’s Golfer of the Week. Vincent’s selection was the second time this season a Liberty player has received the honor. 

Thomas was pleased with the strong performances from the top athletes on the team.

“We had three guys playing really well,” Thomas said. “We have got Kieran Vincent, who is a two-time All-American, returning; Jonathan Yuan, who is a one-time All-American returning; and then Austin Duncan, who is a division two first team All-American that transferred in. Pretty great.”

Austin Duncan was indeed a highlight amongst Liberty’s starting five, turning in his T23 6-over-par 222 (75-78-69) scorecard along with three birdies and 15 pars Sept. 14. 

“There’s a lot of good teams. We were one of the top-ranked teams, and we were playing with a bunch of top 10 ranked teams in the nation,” Duncan said. “We just struggled maybe one round out of the three, so we need to play that better, but we’re definitely happy with how we finished.”

Texas and Oklahoma, key competitors of the Flames, were a major force in the tournament. Duncan credited the success of Texas and Oklahoma to their ability to keep the ball on the fairway and pointed to the fact that it is something his team will look to grow in. 

“There’s just some things we need to improve on just every day,” Duncan said. “Oklahoma and Texas played really well just because they were there keeping the ball on the fairway, and that’s what you got to do out there. If you can’t keep it in play, then you’re going to make bogeys, and that’s kind of what we did on some of the rounds.”

Another top performer for the Flames was Jonathan Yaun with a 2-over-par 218 (75-74-69). He also recorded 12 birdies, the fifth most in the tournament. Yaun said that this tournament provided the time with a great opportunity for him to shine.  

“You know, it’s one of the biggest tournaments in the country we can play in,” Yaun said. “It was exciting to know that we, you know, we’re right there with them going into the final round.”

Liberty golf will be back in action Oct. 4-5 in New York at the 2021 Hamptons Intercollegiate.

“We are ranked No. 21 on the national coaches’ poll,” Thomas said. “We are excited to bring that into the next competition.”

Zehnder is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @zaczehnder.