The Liberty men’s golf team competed at the NCAA National Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona over the weekend. The Flames finished No. 26 in Sunday’s third round with a final team score of 58-over par 898, coming up short of the needed top 15 finish to advance to Monday’s final round.

No. 26 seed Liberty got within a shot of the coveted “Red Line” during round three but ultimately fell down the leaderboard to wrap up its 2021-22 season. The Flames entered the day Sunday in 22nd place and climbed as high as 16th place when nearing the midway point of their Sunday afternoon round.

Liberty’s top golfer in the event was super senior Kieran Vincent who finished tied for 55th place with a 10-over par 220. Playing in his third NCAA National Championship event, Vincent missed advancing to the final round of stroke play by one shot. He entered the No. 18 hole on Sunday needing a par to secure his spot into the final round of stroke play and compete for an individual national championship, but posted a double-bogey as he slipped 10 spots on the leaderboard and missed the cut.

Vincent concludes his storied career at Liberty as the program’s new all-time career scoring average leader (71.71). He finishes his six-year playing career with the Flames surpassing former record holder and Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer Robert Karlsson’s previous school record (72.02).

Austin Duncan finished the tournament tied for 105th place with a 17-over par 227. He led the team this season with 10 sub-70 rounds. Jonathan Yaun finished his third NCAA Men’s Golf Championship appearance tied for 87th place with a 14-over par 224. Issac Simmons finished this year’s event tied for 116th place with a 19-over par 229.

Liberty got off to a very strong start to the National Championship, posting the fifth-best round of the morning flight to keep the Flames in the upper half of the leaderboard on day one. Liberty posted a 10-over par 290 during their first trip around the Grayhawk Golf Club on Friday morning. At the end of round one, Liberty was tied for ninth place. The strong opening round was paced by Vincent who carded a 1-under par 69 and was just one shot off the overall lead.

During Saturday’s day two at the National Championship, the Flames slipped to 22nd place with a 36-hole total of 33-over par 593. Liberty flirted with a top 15 standing for the second straight day, moving up as high as fifth place on the overall team leaderboard.

The top eight ranked teams nationally – Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, North Carolina, Pepperdine, Texas, and Texas Tech – all finished in the top eight following the fourth and final round of stroke play. These teams advanced to match-play. The team national champion will be determined with match-play that will consist of quarterfinals and semifinals conducted on Tuesday followed by the finals on Wednesday.

Liberty advanced to the National Championship with a top five finish in regional play. The Flames finished the Stockton Regional tournament with a 18-under par 846, several strokes behind Arizona State, the tournament host and No. 4 team in the country. The Sun Devils secured a regional championship by a comfortable margin, as they finished with a 38-under par 826. Advancing to the national championship alongside Arizona State and Liberty from the Stockton Regional are Stanford, BYU, and Oregon.

This marked the third straight appearance and fourth all-time at the NCAA National Championship for the golf program, finishing in the top 30 nationally. Last year, the Flames finished 21st out of 30 teams at the NCAA National Championship event.

Liberty’s all-time finishes at the NCAA Golf National Championship:

  • 2012: 10th
  • 2019: 20th
  • 2021: 21st
  • 2022: 26th

*photo courtesy Liberty Athletics