Live Stats

No. 41 Liberty will play its second event during its annual Spring Break week trip when the Flames tee it up at the 43^rd annual Schenkel Invitational this weekend.

The three-day, 54-hole event is hosted by No. 19 Georgia Southern and will be played at the Forest Heights Country Club (par 72, 7,123 yards), Friday through Sunday, in Statesboro, Ga.

The event is one of the longest-running collegiate golf tournaments in the country, which started in 1971. It is named in honor of Hall of Fame TV sports broadcaster Chris Schenkel.

Past winners of this event include professional golfers Justin Thomas (Alabama, 2013), Bubba Watson (Georgia, 2000), Scott Verplank (Oklahoma State, 1984), Bob Tway (Oklahoma State, 1981), Hal Sutton (Centenary College, 1980), Andy Bean (Florida, 1977) and Curtis Strange (Wake Forest, 1974).

This year’s 14-team field includes nine top-75 ranked teams (Golfstat rankings): Georgia Southern (No. 19), Mississippi State (No. 24), Liberty (No. 41), Notre Dame (No. 43), North Florida (No. 45), Wisconsin (No. 66), Middle Tennessee (No. 69), UCF (No. 73) and FGCU (No. 75).

Play at the Schenkel Invitational gets underway on Friday morning at 9 a.m. (Tees No. 1 and No. 10). The tournament champion will be crowned following Sunday’s final round.

Now on The Tee – Liberty’s Starting Five (2022-23 Stroke Average)

• Josh Ryan (71.25)
• Jonathan Yaun (71.38)
• Isaac Simmons (72.13)
• Austin Barbin (72.29)
• Connor Polender (72.82)

Tournament Reflections – Previous Showing at the Schenkel Invitational:  

• This will be Liberty’s first-ever appearance in the Schenkel Invitational.

• The Schenkel Invitational is the third of four tournaments that are appearing on Liberty’s schedule for the first time during the 2022-23 season.
• Liberty has already appeared in the inaugural Folds of Honor Collegiate in the fall (Sept. 26-28), where Jonathan Yaun claimed medalist honors with a win in a playoff.
• The Flames also participated in The Prestige (Feb. 20-22) where Liberty finished in 12^th place in a 24-team field that featured 11 top-50 ranked teams.
• The Flames will also make first-ever appearances at the Mossy Oak Collegiate Championship (April 3-4).

From the 18^th Green – Recapping Liberty’s Last Time Out:

• The Flames are coming off a seventh-place finish at the General Hackler Championship, which was contested earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday.
• Liberty finished the tournament with four eagles and ranked fourth in the 14-team field with 163 pars.
• Liberty finished the event in seventh place with a final team score of 8-under par 856 (290-275-291).
• The 14-team field included 13 teams who entered the week ranked inside the top 100 in that week’s Golfstat national rankings.
• Liberty’s Jonathan Yaun and Josh Ryan paced Liberty by both finishing tied for 10^th place at the Coastal Carolina hosted event.
• Yaun (72-67-72) and Ryan (71-66-74) each carded a 5-under par 211 during their three trips around The Dunes Golf & Beach Club (par 72, 7,233 yards) the last two days.

Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes

• Entering their fifth tournament of the spring, the Flames are ranked No. 41 in the country for the second week in a row (March 15).
• The Flames finished the fall season with a 283.92 team scoring average, the second-best mark in program history (school record: 283.07 in 2016).
• Liberty is ranked No. 21 in the country in birdies (393) and No. 8 in eagles (16).
• The Flames also ranked No. 33 in the country in par-5 scoring (4.69 scoring average) and No. 73 in par-3 scoring (3.17 scoring average).
• The Flames entered the 2022-23 season as one of 11 teams in the country who have advanced to the NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship each of the last three years.
• The 11-team group includes Arizona State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Liberty, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Texas, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
• Since 2011, Liberty has captured six conference titles in two different conferences.
• Liberty captured the conference title five times as a member of the Big South Conference (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018).
• Liberty won its first-ever ASUN Conference championship in 2021.
• The Flames have advanced to the NCAA Regionals 10 of the last 11 regional events and to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship four times in program history (2012, 2019, 2021 and 2022).

Looking at the Latest Rankings (Golfstat rankings as of March 8):

Army (No. 256)
Campbell (No. 135)
FGCU (No. 75)
Georgia Southern (No. 19)
Kentucky (No. 100)
Liberty (No. 41)
Middle Tennessee (No. 69)
Mississippi State (No. 24)
North Florida (No. 45)
Notre Dame (No. 43)
UAB (No. 125)
UCF (No. 73)
West Virginia (No. 115)
Wisconsin (No. 66)

Course Information:

• Forest Heights Country Club (Statesboro, Ga.)
• Par 72, 7,123 yards

Following the Flames at Schenkel Invitational:

• Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com
• Twitter @LibertyGolf
• Instagram @LibertyGolf
• Round 1 Tee Time: Friday at 9:00 a.m./EST (No. 1 tee)