The Liberty men’s golf roster features plenty of juniors and seniors who have played in multiple NCAA regional tournaments.
Thanks to a pair of underclassmen who have shown glimpses of their potential throughout the season, the Flames are aiming for more than just another regional appearance.
Ervin Chang and Alexandre Fuchs have delivered quality performances that have been mixed in with expected struggles as the sophomore and freshman, respectively, have adapted to the collegiate game. Their emergence has helped alleviate the pressure of the upperclassmen to consistently shoot low rounds for the Flames to contend.
Liberty, ranked 40th in the nation in the latest Golfstat rankings, enters Monday’s first round of the Raleigh Regional as the seventh seed.
The field features Georgia Tech (ranked fourth in the nation), California (ninth) and Texas (No. 16) at Lonnie Poole Golf Course.
“He got in his opportunities in the spring and he played really well,” Liberty coach Jeff Thomas said of Fuchs. “He’s a great player and we planned on him playing good all year. Pretty happy with how he played and he continues to get better. That’s good.
“Ervin’s a big part of what we’re doing and he’s played great all spring,” Thomas added. “It’s been a team effort. It’s always good to have fix or six guys playing well. It makes a big difference.”
The two have been featured prominently with sophomore Kieran Vincent missing the entire season with back problems, according to Thomas.
Chang, an all-Big South selection, posted a 72.22 stroke average during the season and recorded a team-best six top-10 finishes. He also owns the only individual victory of the season when he shot 6-under par to win the Sea Best Invitational.
Fuchs, a freshman from France, shot an average of 72.89 and finished tied for second in the Big South Conference championships.
“Making to the regionals with this team has been a lot of fun,” Fuchs said.
The Flames have been on a roll since a lackluster 12th-place finish in mid-March at the General Hackler Championship in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
LU finished third at The Hayt in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, finished in a tie for first at the Duck Invitational in Eugene, Oregon, and then posted a third-place showing at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Franklin, Tennessee.
That run to end the regular season carried into the Big South championships, a three-day event the Flames won by 19 strokes over Campbell.
“In golf, momentum is such a huge thing. I think once a couple of the guys on the team start playing well, it kind of helps everyone else elevate to that same level,” senior Mickey DeMorat said. “Even when we’re at practice or playing for fun, we’re always trying to go as low as we can.”
DeMorat tied Fuchs for second at the Big South championships with a three-day total of 7-under par, and the senior posted a team-best 72.19 average during the season.
DeMorat will be joined by fellow upperclassmen Gabe Lench and Isaiah Logue, and DeMorat said if the team plays like it played at the Big South championships, “there’s no reason we won’t be inside the top five.”
“We’ve been playing good. We’ve got a lot of really good players,” Thomas said. “Isaiah played pretty bad at the beginning of the fall and Mickey was still playing not very good. This team is a really good team.
“We actually expected this team to be ranked a little bit better than where they’re at at the moment, to be honest with you. They were struggling a little bit, but they stayed patient with it and they kept practicing and they knew they were good players and stuck with it. We’ve been playing well. It doesn’t really surprise us. I really thought they would have a pretty good year.”