Flames Return to the Course at the Gator Invitational

The Flames return to another staple of their spring tournament schedule as they will spend Valentine's Day weekend at the Gator Invitational.

This event has appeared on Liberty's spring schedule for more than a decade. The Flames have participated in the Florida-hosted tournament the last 14 seasons.

The event gets underway on Saturday morning at the Mark Bostic Golf Course (par 70, 6,701 yards) in Gainesville, Fla.

Florida's event has been played for 49-consecutive years and is the sixth-longest running Division I men's golf tournament in the country.

The Gator Invitational includes another stacked field, including the last three NCAA national champions, five top 25 teams, eight NCAA Regional qualifiers and four programs who qualified for the 2025 NCAA Men's Golf National Championship.

No. 2 Auburn leads the 18-team field, followed by tournament host Florida (No. 10), Oklahoma State (No. 11), Charlotte (No. 20) and Notre Dame (No. 22).

Play gets underway early Saturday morning (7 a.m. ET) with a modified shotgun start and 36 holes of continuous play. The final round is scheduled to start on Sunday at 8 a.m.

Now on The Tee – Liberty's Starting Five (2025-26 Stroke Average)

Michael Lugiano (70.43)
Josh Ryan (71.00)
Ike Joy (72.93)
Brett Reid (74.50)
Evan Barbin (74.75)

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 14 seasons.
Liberty finished last year's event in 13^th place out of 14 teams with a 34-over par 874 (284-280-310).
The Flames were in the middle of the leaderboard heading into the event's final round before closing with a 30-over par round of 310.
Liberty's top finisher in the event was Ike Joy, who finished tied for 48^th with a 9-over par 219 (71-73-75).
Michael Lugiano finished tied for 55^th place with a 10-over par 220 (73-70-77) and Josh Ryan was tied for 62^nd place with a 12-over par 222 (70-70-82).
Florida won the tournament in 2025 with a winning score of 17-under par 823 (271-274-278).
The Gators finished one shot clear of runner-up Oklahoma State, who posted a 16-under par 824 (277-270-277).
Liberty's top two finishes in this event were a third-place showing in 2019 (2-under par 842) and a fourth-place finish in 2023 (5-over par 845).

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

Michael Lugiano helped the Flames open the spring season with a sixth-place finish at the Sea Best Invitational (Feb. 2-3).
The sophomore closed the tournament with a clean card, signing for a bogey-free round of 5-under par 66 thanks to five birdies at the Atlantic Beach Country Club (par 71, 6,860 yards).
The fourth-best final round allowed Lugiano to shoot up the individual leaderboard 27 spots to finish the event in ninth place with an overall score of 3-under par 139 (73-66).
Due to the cold temperatures that have blanketed the East Coast for the last week, the Jacksonville-hosted tournament was shortened to a 36-hole event prior to the start of play.
As a team, Liberty finished in sixth place with a final score of 5-over par 573 (289-284), which included a five-shot improvement over the first round.

Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes:

Liberty enters its second tournament of the spring season ranked No. 80 in the latest Scoreboard by Clippd national rankings.
Michael Lugiano is Liberty's top-ranked individual golfer as the sophomore is ranked No. 160 in the country.
Lugiano is followed in the rankings by Josh Ryan (No. 272), Silas Haarer (No. 568) and Ike Joy (No. 659).
Liberty enters this weekend's tournament as the top ranked program in Conference USA: Liberty (No. 80), UTEP (No. 83), Kennesaw State (No. 97), Jax State (No. 131), Sam Houston (No. 140), New Mexico State (No. 142), WKU (No. 147), Delaware (No. 153), MTSU (No. 161), LA Tech (No. 170), Missouri State (No. 290).
Liberty's current birdie leaders: Josh Ryan (64), Michael Lugiano (58), Silas Hareer (44), Ike Joy (40) and Luke Libbey (22)
Liberty's current par leaders: Silas Hareer (170), Ike Joy (161), Michael Lugiano (154), Josh Ryan (141) and Luke Libbey (100)
Flames with eagles during the 2025-26 season: Michael Lugiano (1), Josh Ryan (1), Evan Barbin (1) and Silas Hareer (1)
Liberty currently holds a 36-29-0 record during the 2025-26 season with a 285.57 team stroke average.
After missing NCAA Regional play last year for the first time as a team since 2015, Liberty is looking to return to postseason play in 2026.
Prior to the 2024-25 season, Liberty had qualified for eight-straight NCAA Regionals as a team and 12 of the last 14 NCAA Regional events (2011-14, 2016-24/no Regionals contested in 2020).
Last year, Liberty's Ike Joy individually qualified for the NCAA Regional play, giving the Flames a representative at NCAA Regional play each year since 2009 (four years with individual appearances and 12 team appearances).

Looking at the Latest Rankings (Scoreboard by Clippd – as of Feb. 11, 2026):
Auburn (No. 2)
Charlotte (No. 20)
Chattanooga (No. 81)
Florida (No. 10)
FAU (No. 96)
FGCU (No. 55)
Furman (No. 117)
Georgia Southern (No. 60)
Indiana (No. 93)
Jacksonville (No. 182)
Liberty (No. 80)
North Florida (No. 137)
Notre Dame (No. 22)
Oklahoma State (No. 11)
Penn State (No. 135)
UCF (No. 107)
USF (No. 137)
West Virginia (No. 35)

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 Scoreboard.Clippd.com
X @LibertyGolf
Instagram @LibertyGolf
Round 1 Tee Time: Saturday at 7:20 a.m. ET (Modified shotgun start)

Schedule

Flames Return to the Course at the Gator Invitational

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Evan Barbin

Silas Haarer

Ike Joy

Luke Libbey

Michael Lugiano

Brett Reid

Josh Ryan

Flames Return to the Course at the Gator Invitational

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Evan Barbin

Silas Haarer

Ike Joy

Luke Libbey

Michael Lugiano

Brett Reid

Josh Ryan

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