
Flames Set for 2026 CUSA Men’s Golf Championship
4/24/2026 9:11:00 AM | Men's Golf
Following a challenging regular season schedule, Liberty is set to enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed at next week's CUSA Men's Golf Championship, which starts on Monday morning.
The four-day event will once again be contested at the Texarkana Country Club (par 72, 6,969 yards) in Texarkana, Ark.
Play gets underway at 8 a.m. CST on Monday morning, beginning 54 holes of stroke play over the following three days. The top four teams after stroke 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 2026 CUSA Men's Golf Championship title. The championship round will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Since joining Conference USA during the 2024-25 athletic season, Liberty has advanced to match play each of the last two seasons.
The Flames claimed the conference title in 2024, while falling in the semifinal round of match play in 2025.
Looking at the Latest Rankings (Scoreboard by Clippd – as of April 23, 2026):
No. 1 seed Liberty (No. 80)
No. 2 seed UTEP (No. 87)
No. 3 seed MTSU (No. 113)
No. 4 seed Kennesaw State (No. 114)
No. 5 seed New Mexico State (No. 115)
No. 6 seed Jax State (No. 143)
No. 7 seed Sam Houston (No. 147)
No. 8 seed LA Tech (No. 152)
No. 9 seed WKU (No. 164)
No. 10 seed Delaware (No. 173)
No. 11 seed Missouri State (No. 283)
Now on The Tee – Liberty's Starting Five (2025-26 Stroke Average)
2024 CUSA Men's Golf Championship (April 25, 2024)
Semifinal Match vs. No. 2 seed Sam Houston (W/ 3-1-1):
Semifinal Match vs. No. 4 seed UTEP (L/ 2-3):
Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes:
Liberty's Postseason History and Success
Conference Champions (8)
Following the Flames at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championship:
The four-day event will once again be contested at the Texarkana Country Club (par 72, 6,969 yards) in Texarkana, Ark.
Play gets underway at 8 a.m. CST on Monday morning, beginning 54 holes of stroke play over the following three days. The top four teams after stroke 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 2026 CUSA Men's Golf Championship title. The championship round will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Since joining Conference USA during the 2024-25 athletic season, Liberty has advanced to match play each of the last two seasons.
The Flames claimed the conference title in 2024, while falling in the semifinal round of match play in 2025.
Looking at the Latest Rankings (Scoreboard by Clippd – as of April 23, 2026):
No. 1 seed Liberty (No. 80)
No. 2 seed UTEP (No. 87)
No. 3 seed MTSU (No. 113)
No. 4 seed Kennesaw State (No. 114)
No. 5 seed New Mexico State (No. 115)
No. 6 seed Jax State (No. 143)
No. 7 seed Sam Houston (No. 147)
No. 8 seed LA Tech (No. 152)
No. 9 seed WKU (No. 164)
No. 10 seed Delaware (No. 173)
No. 11 seed Missouri State (No. 283)
Now on The Tee – Liberty's Starting Five (2025-26 Stroke Average)
- Michael Lugiano (70.76)
- Josh Ryan (71.66)
- Ike Joy (72.10)
- Silas Haarer (72.34)
- Luke Libbey (73.65)
- Alternate: Brett Reid (73.64)
- During last year's championship, Liberty finished as the stroke play leader after the tournament's first three days of play.
- The Flames posted a 54-hole stroke play score of 15-under par 849 (277-293-279) at the Texarkana Country Club.
- Liberty finished six shots clear of eventual CUSA champion Sam Houston, who posted a stroke play score of 9-under par 855 (291-283-281).
- Liberty's Ike Joy paced the Flames during the stroke play portion of the event, as he was the individual medalist runner-up with a 7-under par 209 (68-71-70).
- Liberty would then lose its semifinal match-up against UTEP, 3-2.
2024 CUSA Men's Golf Championship (April 25, 2024)
Semifinal Match vs. No. 2 seed Sam Houston (W/ 3-1-1):
- Austin Barbin (LU) tied Ting-Wei Hsieh (SHSU)
- Ike Joy (LU) won over Bret Gray (SHSU) (3&2)
- Isaac Simmons (LU) won over Gene Chaikangwal (SHSU) (2&1)
- Josh Ryan (LU) won over Josh German (SHSU)(2&1)
- Hugo Trommetter (SHSU) won over Brett Reid (LU) (4&3)
- Josh Ryan (LU) won over Dylan Teeter (UTEP) (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.
- Sebastian Sandin (UTEP) won over Austin Barbin (LU) (19 holes)
- Isaac Simmons (LU) won over Greg Holmes (UTEP) (1 up)
- Jacob Presutti (UTEP) won over Brett Reid (LU) (1 up)
- Ike Joy (LU) won over Patrick Foley (UTEP) (3&2)
Semifinal Match vs. No. 4 seed UTEP (L/ 2-3):
- Andrew Gregory (LU) won over Braden Smith (UTEP) (2&1)
- Pat Foley (UTEP) won over Pascal Gunther (LU) (3&2)
- Dylan Teeter (UTEP) won over Josh Ryan (LU) (3&1)
- Michael Lugiano (LU) won over Alexandre Godin (UTEP) (2&1)
- Max Schliesing (UTEP) won over Ike Joy (LU) (1 up in 19 holes)
- Ike Joy is heading into the postseason on the heels of his best showing of the year after an eighth-place finish at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial on April 13-14.
- The graduate student used four birdies and an eagle during the final round at the Birdwood Golf Course (par 72, 7,116 yards) in Charlottesville to sign for a 7-under par 206 (68-71-67).
- The tournament finish was the lowest 54-hole total of his final season with the Flames and matched his tie for eighth place at the Michael A. Marino Classic (March 15-17).
- As a squad, Liberty carded its second lowest 18-hole team score of the 2025-26 season with an 8-under par 276 during the final round.
- Overall, Liberty finished the event in eighth place with a 2-under par 850 (282-292-276).
- Silas Haarer finished tied for 14th place with a 4-under par 209 (69-69-71), while Luke Libbey (69-68-76) and Blake Hogan (75-66-72) both finished the event tied for 29th place with an even par 213.
Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes:
- Liberty enters postseason play as the top-ranked team in Conference USA in the Scoreboard by Clippd national rankings.
- The Flames are ranked No. 80, followed by UTEP (No. 87), MTSU (No. 113), Kennesaw State (No. 114), New Mexico State (No. 115), Jax State (No. 143), Sam Houston (No. 147), LA Tech (No. 152), WKU (No. 164), Delaware (No. 173) and Missouri State (No. 283).
- Michael Lugiano is Liberty's top-ranked individual golfer as the sophomore is ranked No. 168 in the country.
- Lugiano is followed in the rankings by Josh Ryan (No. 332), Ike Joy (387), Silas Haarer (No. 460) and Blake Hogan (No. 603).
- Liberty finished the regular season with a 74-61-0 win-loss record (54.8) and with a 286.03 season stroke average.
- After missing NCAA Regional play last year for the first time as a team since 2015, Liberty is looking to return to NCAA 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).
Liberty's Postseason History and Success
Conference Champions (8)
- Big South Conference (5) – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018
- ASUN Conference (2) – 2021, 2023
- Conference USA (1) – 2024
- At-Large (7) – 2003, 2006, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
- Automatic Bids (7) – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2024
- 2012 (10th place), 2019 (20th place), 2021 (21st place), 2022 (26th place)
- 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)
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