Men’s golf tees off spring season
The Liberty University men’s golf team didn’t impress Flames Nation at the Sea Best Invitational Jan. 29-30, finishing 11th out of 15 teams in the event. However, the Flames hadn’t been on the golf course in a little over two months, and that was back when they finished 3rd out of 20 teams at the Ka’anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational Oct. 25-28. In Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, the Flames struggled out of the gate in their first event of the spring portion of their 2023-2024 season. Through nine holes of play, Liberty found itself 16-over-par with 27 holes still to play at the TPC Sawgrass – Dye’s Valley Course (par 70).
“Unfortunately, we don’t get time to just sit them down and talk because, you know, as they’re playing the round, they started on a hard part of the golf course, and they knew that,” Flames Head Coach Jeff Thomas said. “So they just kept playing and kept grinding away, and it paid off on the back nine that first day. So they were able to make a pretty big leap from where we started round one.”
During the afternoon flight, the wind reached sustained gusts of 10-15 mph, but the rest of the scores for the 15-team field started to rise as the Flames began to put it all together. Liberty played the final 27 holes of play on Monday at 11-over par, and it finished the day with a combined 27-over-par at 587. At the end of round two, the Florida Gators were in the lead with a 2-over-par 562, just seven shots clear of North Florida’s 9-over-par 569. The Gators were also looking to win the event in back-to-back seasons after finishing at 14-under-par to win by 23 strokes last year.
The Flames did have some positives to take away from day one, though. Junior Ike Joy and sophomore Josh Ryan paced the Flames during day one of the tournament. Both were tied for 22nd place with a 5-over-par 145. In addition, only four players in the 84-man field were under par when the first two rounds came to an end.
On Tuesday morning, Liberty set out to try and gain some momentum on the other teams in the fleet during round three. Through the first nine holes, the Flames were starting to put it together, as they were only 6-over-par by the end of the front nine. Also, the Flames would play their best nine holes of the tournament, as graduate students Isaac Simmons and Austin Barbin both scored an even par on the back nine.
Joy, Ryan and sophomore Evan Barbin finished the front nine at one-over, two-over and three-over respectively. However, the Flames were 14-over-par on the back nine as a team, and needing really good play to help them climb back up the leaderboard, the team wasn’t able to turn things around Saturday afternoon. After the final nine, Ryan finished tied for 21st place in the tournament with a 6-over-par 216 (72-73-71) to lead the Flames at the Sea Best Invitational.
He made the turn to the final nine holes at 3-over-par but rebounded well enough to post a clear card on the back nine that included two birdies and seven pars to climb up the leaderboard. Ryan would finish the Sea Best Invitational with eight birdies and 32 pars, which was tied for the team high.
“I played really good for pretty much the whole tournament; a few poor shots cost me and made me have a lot of bogies,” Ryan said. “But throughout the tournament, I felt very consistent off the tee and getting on the green very quickly, which led to a lot of birdie looks. I think if I just clean up the bogies next time, we will be in a good spot.”
Ryan wasn’t the only one who played very well, as Barbin finished tied for 37th place with a 10-over-par 220 (75-72-73). Barbin’s best finish of the season was assisted by a team-high nine birdies and one of Liberty’s two eagles during the event. No. 26 Florida won the event for the second year in a row with a winning score of 2-over-par 842 (286-276-280). The Gators finished just ahead of North Florida, as it ended the tournament at 5-over-par 845 (288-281-276).
The Flames will be back on the golf course in less than two weeks as they head to Gainesville, Florida, for the Gator Invitational Feb. 17-18.
“The Gator Invitational is a good tournament; we’ve typically played well there,” Thomas said. “So you know, we just need to go there and try to continue to work hard between now and then. We need to drive the ball well and putt it really well. So, if we can do those two things that will be good, but they just need to keep working on their games and try to get better at each aspect of their game and then move from there. We’ll be ready.”
Clingman is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X