No. 7 Seed Liberty Set for NCAA Stockton Regional

Liberty, who is currently ranked No. 38 in the country, begins its quest to make for a third-straight national championship appearance when the Flames participate at the NCAA Stockton Regional, beginning next Monday.

No. 7 seed Liberty will be one of 14 teams looking to finish among the top five teams at the regional event, hosted by Pacific, at The Reserve at Spanos Park (par 72, 7,315 yards) in Stockton, Calif.

This is the third time Liberty has been sent to the West Coast in the program’s 12 NCAA Regional appearances. The Flames finished in 10^th place at the 2011 NCAA Regional in Tucson, Ariz., and in eighth place at the 2014 NCAA Regional in Eugene, Ore.

The top five teams from each of the six NCAA Regionals will advance to the 2022 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. (May 27 – June 1).

Now on The Tee – Liberty’s Starting Five (2021-22 Stroke Average)

• Kieran Vincent (71.20)
• Austin Duncan (71.70)
• Isaac Simmons (72.04)
• Jonathan Yaun (72.13)
• Austin Barbin (72.97)
• Alternate: Zach Barbin (74.50)

Tournament Reflections – Liberty’s Last Showing at the NCAA Regionals:   

• The Flames punched their ticket to the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship by finishing in fourth place at last year’s NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
• Liberty carded an overall 15-under par 849 (283-277-289) at the Seminole Legacy Golf Club (par 72, 7,505 yards).
• The fourth-place finish allowed Liberty to advance to the national championship for the second consecutive season (2019 and 2021 – no national championship in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
• Liberty finished six shots clear of fifth-place TCU, who was the last team to advance after carding a 9-under par 855 (290-283-282).
• Tournament host Florida State won the regional after posting an impressive 34-under par 830 (271-281-278) on its home course.
• The Flames were paced at the event by Kieran Vincent, who finished in a share of fifth place with a 7-under par 209 (65-73-71).

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

• The Flames finished in third place at the 2022 ASUN Men’s Golf Championship held last month (April 24-26).
• Liberty fired a 9-over par 861 (294-280-287) at the University of Georgia Golf Club (Par 71, 7,259 yards) in Athens, Ga.
• Austin Duncan paced the Flames during the championship event, finishing in a three-way tie for second place with a final score of 4-under par 209 (74-67-68).
• For his strong showing, Duncan was named to the 2022 ASUN Men’s Golf All-Championship team.
• No. 39 North Florida was the only team in the field to finish under-par, posting a winning score of 4-under par 848 (280-283-285).
• FGCU took the runner-up spot, finishing 11 shots behind North Florida with a 7-over par 859 (293-282-284).

Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes

• Liberty enters the Regional ranked No. 38 in the latest Golfstat team rankings.
• Liberty has posted eight top-five finishes in 11 events during the 2021-22 season.
• Prior to the start of the ASUN Championship, Liberty placed three players on the ASUN All-Conference teams.
• Kieran Vincent and Austin Duncan were named to the ASUN All-Conference first team, while Jonathan Yaun was a second-team all-conference selection.
• Austin Duncan was also named the ASUN Men’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Isaac Simmons joined Duncan on the ASUN All-Academic team.
• Kieran Vincent individually ranks No. 45 in the country in the latest Golfstat rankings.
• Vincent has posted 25 career top-10 finishes during his career at Liberty, which ranks second to Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer Robert Karlsson (31 – 2009-12).
• Isaac Simmons currently leads the Flames with a last-round scoring average of 70.89, which ranks No. 116 in the country, followed by Kieran Vincent (71.00/No. 130).
• Austin Duncan currently leads the team in par-3 scoring average (3.13), while Kieran Vincent leads the team in par-4 (4.04) and par-5 (4.64) scoring average.
• Austin Duncan leads Liberty in pars per round (11.79), followed by Kieran Vincent (11.53). Duncan ranks No. 63 in the country in the stat category.
• Kieran Vincent ranks No. 32 in the country in fewest bogeys per round (2.23 average).
• The Flames finished their fall season ranked No. 22 in the Golfweek Men’s Golf Team Rankings, No. 24 in the Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches Poll and No. 26 in the Golfstat team rankings.
• Liberty finished the fall season with a 288.33 team stroke average, the fourth-best mark in program history.
• The Flames have advanced to the NCAA Regionals 10 of the last 11 regional events and to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship three times in program history (2012, 2019 and 2021).

Looking at the Latest Rankings:

No. 1 seed Arizona State (No. 4)

No. 2 seed Washington (No. 9)

No. 3 seed Stanford (No. 16)

No. 4 seed LSU (No. 21)

No. 5 seed Oregon (No. 28)

No. 6 seed Nevada (No. 32)

No. 7 seed Liberty (No. 38)

No. 8 seed BYU (No. 46)

No. 9 seed UAB (No. 54)

No. 10 seed Houston (No. 59)

No. 11 seed UC Davis (No. 63)

No. 12 seed Denver (No. 108)

No. 13 seed Abilene Christian (No. 126)

No. 14 seed Weber State (No. 167)

Note: Golfstat national rankings (as of May 8)

Individuals (seeded in the following order):

1. Caden Fioroni, UNLV
2. Jackson Rivera, Southern California
3. Tyler Schafer, Long Beach State
4. Nathan Cogswell, Seattle
5. Nate Deziel, North Dakota State

Course Information:

• The Reserve at Spanos Park (Stockton, Calif.)
• Par 72, 7,315 yards

Following the Flames at NCAA Stockton Regional:

• Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com
• Twitter @LibertyGolf
• Instagram @LibertyGolf
• Round 1 Tee Time: Monday – 8:25 a.m./PST (No. 1 tee)