A season to remember: Liberty golf finishes strong
After one of the most successful fall seasons in program history, the Liberty golf team is preparing to carry that momentum into the spring.
The team is taking a few weeks off the course to rest after busy summer and fall practices and tournaments before getting ready for the spring season. The team wrapped up its fall season finishing third out of 18 teams at the ODU/Outerbanks Collegiate Golf Tournament. The Flames competed in four tournaments in the fall season and finished in the top three all but once.
Liberty finished third in the Golfweek Conference Challenge out of 15 teams, 12 of which finished in the top 75 last year. The Flames had their best finish of the season at the Rees Jones Intercollegiate, tying for first out of ten teams.
“We’re definitely ranked the best we have ever been ranked and in that sense we are really happy,” head coach Jeff Thomas said. “From a coaches stance we have areas where we feel like we can get better and get ranked better and hopefully put ourselves in position come spring where we can maybe compete and make it to nationals.”
After a successful campaign, the Flames finished of the season ranked No. 41 in both the Golfstat Collegiate rankings and the Golfweek Collegiate rankings. Liberty’s freshman were also honored by being ranked the No. 13 freshman class in terms of contribution during the season.
Junior Robert Karlsson, who was named Big South player of the week twice this season, helped lead the Flames during the season and finished as the top ranked golfer for the Big South at No. 88 by Golfstat and No. 95 by Golfweek.
Freshman Ian McConnell and senior Preston Dembowiak each were named Big South Golfers of the Week as well, allowing Liberty to take the honors four of eight times this season.
“Preston Dembowiak played really well this fall which made a big difference for us,” Thomas said.
The Flames need to stay in the top 70 of the rankings in order to make it to the regional tournament.
“That would be our ultimate goal to be ranked high enough to make it into the tournament,” Thomas said.
The hailing moment of the season came in the final round of the first tournament when the team broke the school record and jumped from eighth at the end of day two to finish third at the end of day three.
“That pushed us through the whole fall and was the most impressive thing we did all fall,” Thomas said.
The Flames will take a few weeks off to rest and then start practicing after Thanksgiving break to begin preparing for the first tournament coming up in January. Liberty will be competing at the Players Stadium Course at TPC- Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. for the JU Invitational. The Flames will compete in the Big South Men’s Golf Championship in April at The Patriot Golf Club in Ninety-Six, S.C.