Monday, April 21
Texarkana, Ark.
10:00 AM ET/9:00 AM CT
Liberty University
vs
CUSA Men’s Golf Championship
Liberty Set to Defend CUSA Men’s Golf Championship Title
4/20/2025 6:41:00 AM | Men's Golf
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Coming off their best finish of the 2024-25 season, Liberty is set to defend its conference title at this week's 2025 CUSA Men's Golf Championship.
Starting on Monday morning, Liberty, who will be the No. 5 seed in the championship, will return to the Texarkana Country Club (par 72, 6,969 yards) in Texarkana, Ark., looking for the program's ninth conference title and second in a row.
During Liberty's inaugural CUSA Championship run, the Flames claimed the title in dramatic fashion when Josh Ryan outlasted UTEP's Dylan Teeter in five extra playoff holes of the championship match play event to secure the team title.
Liberty, who is currently ranked No. 101 in the latest Scoreboard by clippd national rankings, enters this year's championship knowing it will need to win the title in order to play in the NCAA Men's Golf Regional event it gets to host in May.
For the first time in program history, Liberty will host one of the six NCAA Men's Golf Regional sites when they welcome some of the best teams in the country to the Poplar Grove Golf Course in Amherst, Va., May 12-14, 2025.
Play gets underway at 8 a.m. CST at the Texarkana Country Club on Monday morning, beginning 54 holes of stroke play. The top four teams after play concludes on Wednesday will advance to two rounds of match play on Thursday.
Following semifinal match play during the morning on Thursday, the final two teams will square off in another round of match play Thursday afternoon with the victor claiming the 2025 CUSA Men's Golf Championship title. The championship round will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Now on The Tee – Liberty's Starting Five (2024-25 Stroke Average)
Tournament Reflections – Liberty's Last Showing at the CUSA Championship:
From the 18th Green – Recapping Liberty's Last Time Out:
Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes:
Looking at the Latest Rankings:
(Scoreboard Powered by Clippd Rankings as of April 9)
No. 1 seed New Mexico State (No. 61)
No. 2 seed Kennesaw State (No. 68)
No. 3 seed Sam Houston (No. 71)
No. 4 seed UTEP (No. 100)
No. 5 seed Liberty (No. 101)
No. 6 seed Middle Tennessee (No. 120)
No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech (No. 128)
No. 6 seed Jacksonville State (No. 129)
No. 7 seed Western Kentucky (No. 179)
Course Information:
Following the Flames at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championship:
Starting on Monday morning, Liberty, who will be the No. 5 seed in the championship, will return to the Texarkana Country Club (par 72, 6,969 yards) in Texarkana, Ark., looking for the program's ninth conference title and second in a row.
During Liberty's inaugural CUSA Championship run, the Flames claimed the title in dramatic fashion when Josh Ryan outlasted UTEP's Dylan Teeter in five extra playoff holes of the championship match play event to secure the team title.
Liberty, who is currently ranked No. 101 in the latest Scoreboard by clippd national rankings, enters this year's championship knowing it will need to win the title in order to play in the NCAA Men's Golf Regional event it gets to host in May.
For the first time in program history, Liberty will host one of the six NCAA Men's Golf Regional sites when they welcome some of the best teams in the country to the Poplar Grove Golf Course in Amherst, Va., May 12-14, 2025.
Play gets underway at 8 a.m. CST at the Texarkana Country Club on Monday morning, beginning 54 holes of stroke play. The top four teams after play concludes on Wednesday will advance to two rounds of match play on Thursday.
Following semifinal match play during the morning on Thursday, the final two teams will square off in another round of match play Thursday afternoon with the victor claiming the 2025 CUSA Men's Golf Championship title. The championship round will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Now on The Tee – Liberty's Starting Five (2024-25 Stroke Average)
- Ike Joy (71.29)
- Josh Ryan (72.05)
- Andrew Gregory (72.76)
- Michael Lugiano (73.13)
- Pascal Gunther (73.62)
- Alternate: Blake Hogan (74.88)
Tournament Reflections – Liberty's Last Showing at the CUSA Championship:
- During the Flames first season as a member of Conference USA, Liberty claimed the program's eighth conference title at the 2024 CUSA Men's Golf Championship.
- Liberty finished in third place in the stroke play portion of the Championship, carding a 1-over par 865 (290-292-283) at the Texarkana Country Club in Texarkana, Ark.
- Conference USA Men's Golfer of the Year Josh Ryan paced Liberty as the stroke play runner-up with a 6-under par 210 (71-69-70)
- Ike Joy finished tied for 16th place with a 5-over par 221 (73-74-74)
- Liberty defeated No. 2 seed Sam Houston in the semifinal round - 3-1-1
- Liberty defeated No. 4 seed UTEP in the championship round - 3-2-0
- Josh Ryan defeated Dylan Teeter - 23 holes
- Dylan Teeter was 3up on Josh Ryan after seven holes
- Josh Ryan birdied the 18th hole to tie his match and push play into extra holes
- Josh Ryan's short iron approach to the green on No. 5 (par 4, 397 yards), the 23rd hole of the match, landed inches away from the cup and settled four feet from the hole.
- Dylan Teeter left his cross-green birdie try shot and missed his par attempt before conceding the match to Ryan and the title to the Flames.
- Ike Joy defeated Patrick Foley - 3&2
- Josh Ryan defeated Dylan Teeter - 23 holes
From the 18th Green – Recapping Liberty's Last Time Out:
- Liberty played its best golf of the season in its last outing where the Flames finished in fourth place at the 2025 Lewis Chitengwa Memorial, last Monday and Tuesday.
- Liberty carded a 6-over par 858 (280-286-292) at the Birdwood Golf Course (par 71, 7,116 yards) in Charlottesville, Va.
- The only teams to finish ahead of Liberty entered the event ranked inside the top 30 in the country.
- No. 11 Florida State claimed the team title with a 13-under par 839 (267-274-298), despite closing the event with a 14-over par 298.
- No. 13 Virginia, the tournament host, finished as the runner-up with an 8-under par 844 (281-276-287).
- No. 27 Northwestern rounded out the top three teams with an even par 852 (278-280-294).
- Liberty's Josh Ryan claimed runner-up honors, finishing in second place with a 3-under par 210 (69-70-71), and leading the 72-man field with 16 birdies.
- The Flames' Andrew Gregory posted his third top-10 finish of the season with an eighth-place showing by carding an even par 213 (69-71-73)
Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes:
- Liberty enters the CUSA Men's Golf Championship ranked No. 101 in the latest national rankings (Scoreboard Powered by Clippd rankings as of April 16).
- Ike Joy is the third-best ranked golfer in Conference USA entering this week: Claes Borregaard, Kennesaw State (No. 98), Max Schliesing, UTEP (No. 106) and Ike Joy, Liberty (No. 190).
- Liberty had four players claim Conference USA Player of the Week honors during the 2024-25 season:
- Nov. 6 – Ike Joy
- Feb. 5 – Michael Lugiano
- March 12 – Ike Joy
- April 16 – Josh Ryan
- Liberty's stat leaders entering the 2025 CUSA Men's Golf Championship:
- Birdies: Michael Lugiano (80), Josh Ryan (72), Ike Joy (71), Andrew Gregory (53) and Evan Barbin (53)
- Eagles: Andrew Gregory (3), Pascal Gunther (2), Ike Joy (2), Michael Lugiano (2) and Josh Ryan (2)
- The Flames enter the spring portion of their season looking to capture their ninth conference title in program history (Big South Conference: 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018), ASUN Conference (2021 and 2023), Conference USA (2024).
- The Flames have advanced to the NCAA Regionals 12 of the last 13 regional events and to the NCAA Men's Golf Championship four times in program history (2012, 2019, 2021 and 2022).
- For the first time in program history, Liberty will host an NCAA Men's Golf Regional when they welcome some of the best teams in the country to the Poplar Grove Golf Course in Amherst, Va., May 12-14, 2025.
Looking at the Latest Rankings:
(Scoreboard Powered by Clippd Rankings as of April 9)
No. 1 seed New Mexico State (No. 61)
No. 2 seed Kennesaw State (No. 68)
No. 3 seed Sam Houston (No. 71)
No. 4 seed UTEP (No. 100)
No. 5 seed Liberty (No. 101)
No. 6 seed Middle Tennessee (No. 120)
No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech (No. 128)
No. 6 seed Jacksonville State (No. 129)
No. 7 seed Western Kentucky (No. 179)
Course Information:
- Texarkana Country Club (Texarkana, Ark.)
- Par 72, 6,969 yards
Following the Flames at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championship:
- Live stats will be available at Scoreboard.clippd.com
- Twitter @LibertyGolf
- Instagram @LibertyGolf
- Round 1 Tee Time: Monday at 8 a.m./CST (No. 1 tee)
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
Welcome To The 2025 NCAA Men’s Golf Amherst Regional
Tuesday, April 29
Kieran Vincent: Taking Life One Shot at a Time
Wednesday, April 02
Golf boys getting strong 🏋️👀
Monday, December 09
BTS shoot with Liberty Golf!⛳️🔥 #shorts
Wednesday, October 23