Liberty Returns to the Sunshine State for the Gator Invitational
2/10/2023 2:32:40 PM | Men's Golf
No. 37 Liberty returns to the “Sunshine State” for the next stop on its 2022-23 schedule – the Vystar Credit Union Gator Invitational.
The two-day, 54-hole event will once again be hosted by Florida at its on-campus home course, the Mark Bostick Golf Course (par 70, 6,701 yards) in Gainesville, Fla.
The course has been Florida’s home golf course since the 1960s and has hosted the Gator Invitational since 1978.
This year’s 13-team field at the Gator Invitational includes six other top-75 ranked teams (Golfstat rankings): Florida (No. 8), Georgia Southern (No. 25), North Florida (No. 35), Liberty (No. 37), FGCU (No. 51) and Stetson (No. 59).
The Flames will face six ASUN Conference foes in the Florida-hosted event: Lipscomb (No. 32), North Florida (No. 42), Stetson (No. 59), FGCU (No. 60), Jacksonville (No. 142) and Kennesaw State (No. 176).
Play gets underway on Saturday with a modified shotgun start at 8 a.m. (36 holes on Saturday). The tournament concludes with 18 holes on Sunday.
Now on The Tee – Liberty’s Starting Five (2022-23 Stroke Average)
- Josh Ryan (70.67)
- Jonathan Yaun (70.80)
- Isaac Simmons (72.00)
- Austin Barbin (72.07)
- Connor Polender (72.40)
- Individual: Ike Joy (71.33)
Tournament Reflections – Previous Showing at the Gator Invitational:
- The Flames are no strangers to Florida's on-campus golf course, having participated in this event for the last 11 seasons.
- Liberty’s best showing at this event took place in 2019 where the Flames finished in third place with a 2-under par 842 (285-277-280).
- Prior to the 2019 event, Liberty’s best showing in previous trips to Gainesville, Fla., were sixth-place finishes in 2012, 2016 and 2018.
- Last year, Liberty finished this event in 14th place with a 39-over par 879 (299-286-294).
- Jonathan Yaun paced Liberty during the 2022 event, finishing in 28th place with a 3-over par 213 (75-70-68).
From the 18th Green – Recapping Liberty’s Last Time Out:
- The Flames opened the spring portion of their 2022-23 schedule with a third-place showing at the Sea Best Invitational (Jan 30-31).
- Liberty finished the Jacksonville-hosted event with a 14-over par 854 (291-280-283) following three trips around the TPC Sawgrass – Dye’s Valley Course (par 70, 6,790 yards) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
- Liberty kept pace with the top teams in the field by closing the tournament with a 3-over par 283, the third-best final round team score.
- The 13-team tournament featured a strong field, including six teams who ranked inside the latest Golfstat top-75 ranking, led by then-ranked No. 9 Florida, who won the tournament.
- Liberty was paced in the event by Jonathan Yaun, who posted his second top-10 finish of the season.
- Thanks to consecutive sub-70 rounds, Yaun finished the event in eighth place with a 1-under par 209 (75-66-68).
Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes
- Following his eighth-place finish at the Sea Best Invitational, Jonathan Yaun was named the ASUN Men’s Golfer of the Week on Feb. 2.
- Yaun enters the Gator Invitational holding a 68.2 stroke average during the second round in 2022-23, including all five rounds in the 60s.
- 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 currently ranks No. 10 in the country in par-5 scoring (4.62 scoring average) and No. 15 in eagles (11).
- The Flames also ranks No. 41 in the country in par-3 scoring (3.13 scoring average).
- Individually, Josh Ryan ranks No. 62 in the country first-round scoring (69.40 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 Feb. 8):
Florida Atlantic (No. 148)
Florida (No. 8)
FGCU (No. 51)
Georgia Southern (No. 25)
Jacksonville (No. 142)
Kennesaw State (No. 176)
Liberty (No. 37)
North Florida (No. 35)
North Texas (No. 139)
Penn State (No. 93)
South Florida (No. 88)
Stetson (No. 59)
West Virginia (No. 112)
Course Information:
- Mark Bostick Golf Course (Gainesville, Fla.)
- Par 70, 6,701 yards
Following the Flames at Gator Invitational:
- Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com
- Twitter @LibertyGolf
- Instagram @LibertyGolf
- Round 1 Tee Time: Saturday at 8:00 a.m./EST (Modified Shotgun Start)
