No. 3 seed Liberty is in Tallahassee, Florida where the Flames began NCAA Regional play on Monday. Liberty is seeking to advance to the national championship for the third time in program history. The three-day, 54-hole event is being played at the Seminole Legacy Golf Club (par 72, 7,240 yards).

The course serves as the home of the Florida State golf program where the Seminoles are the No. 1 seed in the regional. The top five teams from the regional will advance to the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. The 3-seed is Liberty’s highest NCAA Regional seeding in program history. The Flames enter this week as the No. 16 ranked team in the Golfstat national rankings.

Here’s a look at the 14 teams competing this week in the Tallahassee Regional (national ranking):
No. 1 Florida State (No. 2)
No. 2 Georgia (No. 11)
No. 3 Liberty (No. 16)
No. 4 LSU (No. 23)
No. 5 Georgia Tech (No. 27)
No. 6 Georgia Southern (No. 34)
No. 7 TCU (No. 40)
No. 8 Indiana (No. 45)
No. 9 Kansas (No. 58)
No. 10 Southern California (No. 59)
No. 11 Ohio State (No. 62)
No. 12 Davidson (No. 120)
No. 13 Florida A&M (No. 173)
No. 14 LIU (No. 248)

MONDAY UPDATE

Liberty got off to a strong start and remained among the leaders throughout the day on Monday. The Flames were among the first grouping off the tee to begin tournament play, and Liberty was tied for first on the front nine. The Flames would settle into second place as the team made the turn and for much of the back nine. The final few holes of the first round were tough for Liberty’s golfers as the Flames dropped a few strokes and finished at 5-under par 284 on the round.

Kieran Vincent, who entered the week as the No. 21 ranked golfer in the country, paced the Flames and the entire field as he carded a 7-under par 65 first round score. The redshirt-junior sat atop the leader-board at the end of Monday’s round with a two stroke lead on his top challengers.

Janathan Yaun finished Monday’s round with a 1-under par 71, as did Zach Barbin, Ervin Chang shot a 4-over par 76, and Alexandre Fuchs carded a 5-over par 77 to round out Liberty’s individual scores in round one.

As a team, Liberty finished the day in third place in the tournament, trailing host Florida State who finished round one at 17-under par 271 and Georgia Tech who shot a 11-under par 277. The round one team leader-board following Monday’s action:

1. Florida State -17
2. Georgia Tech -11
3. Liberty -5
4. Ohio State -4
5. Georgia -3
6. Davidson, Kansas E
8. Indiana, TCU +2
10. LSU, Georgia Southern +3
12. Florida A&M +13
13. Southern California +14
14. Long Island +19

Regional play will resume with round two beginning Tuesday morning.

TUESDAY UPDATE

Liberty finished the day with the top score in the tournament for round two, finishing with an 11-under par 277. Entering the second round of play in third place, needing to remain at least in the top five to advance to next week’s national championship, Liberty’s golfers came out scorching hot. The Flames immediately charged out of the blocks posting the top score on the course despite being paired with course host Florida State and Georgia Tech who entered the day 1st and 2nd in the regional, respectively.

Jonathan Yaun carded a 4-under par on the front nine to carry the team as he entered the conversation among the individual leaders. Kieran Vincent, who entered round two atop the individual leader board by two strokes at 7-under par, hit par on each of the first seven holes on Tuesday before sinking his first birdie on hole eight. He toured the course for round two with the number one golfer in the country, Florida State’s John Pak.

Yaun finished the day at 5-under par and is tied for 5th on the individual leaderboard, four strokes behind individual leader Michael Sakane from Jacksonville who is at 11-under par for the tournament. Vincent finished 1-over par on Tuesday, bringing him to 6-under par for the tournament and also tied for 5th.

The Flames are 16-under par 560 through the first two rounds, eight strokes behind Florida State. The tournament host and No. 1 seed Florida State continued to lead the rest of the teams in the field after finishing Monday’s round one with a six stroke lead over Georgia Tech. The Flames were able to overtake the Yellow Jackets midway through Tuesday’s round.

The team leaderboard following Tuesday’s round two, where Liberty has a 13-stroke lead on 6th place:

1. Florida State -24
2. Liberty -16
3. Georgia Tech -13
4. Georgia -9
5. Ohio State -7
6. TCU -3
7. Kansas -2
8. Georgia Southern E
9. Indiana, LSU -+4
11. Davidson +9
12. Southern California +22
13. Florida A&M +32
14. Long Island +47

The third and final round of the Tallahassee Regional will take place on Wednesday. The top five teams will advance to the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona which begins Friday, May 28.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE

The Flames entered the third and final round needing to stay in the top five to advance to next week’s national championship. With a 13 stroke lead on 6th place entering the day, Liberty felt comfortable with its positioning, but still needed to have a strong round to keep from feeling pressure. Also, sitting in second place, the Flames had eyes on a regional championship, though eight strokes behind Florida State, the No. 2 team in the country and tournament host, is a strong hill to climb.

While not having as strong of a front nine as Liberty did on Tuesday, the Flames were able to maintain pace with Georgia Tech to remain in second place through the front nine on Wednesday. Georgia and Kansas had strong openings on Wednesday as they pushed to secure their spot in the top five.

After shooting 3-under par on the opening holes, Liberty remained even over the next several holes as several players began to make the turn to the back nine. The Flames limped along and finished 1-over par 289 at the conclusion of the team’s third and final round.

Liberty is currently in the clubhouse after shooting a 15-under par 849 for the tournament. That currently has the Flames in fourth place behind Florida State and Georgia Tech who are already in the clubhouse, as well, and two strokes behind Georgia as the Bulldogs are finishing out their final holes. The Flames own a seven stroke lead over Kansas who is currently in sixth place as they are on their final holes.

*photo courtesy Todd Drexler, SE Sports Media