Scoring records tumbled and Liberty University took charge of the ASUN men’s golf championship on Tuesday at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Magnolia Grove Crossings Course in Mobile, Ala.
Among the marks to fall were two of the longest-standing individual records that were held or shared by First Coast golfers.
The Flames finished the first 36 holes at 40-under-par 536, eight shots ahead of defending champion North Florida and a record for the first two rounds, breaking the mark of 557 set in 2004 by UCF at Buies Creek (NC).
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And with Jonathan Yaun and Connor Polender both firing 63s in the second round to tie the individual 18-hole record, Liberty broke the second-round scoring mark of 272, set in 1986 by Georgia Southern at the Abilene (Texas) Country Club.
Yaun and Polender tied the record previously set by Fletcher graduate Fred Benton when he played for Georgia Southern in the 1986 tournament.
Yaun and teammate Isaac Simmons (64-67) also would have shared the 36-hole scoring record had it not been for Erik Janssen of Jacksonville State. He shot rounds of 66-64—130 and at 14-under leads Yaun and Isaac Simmons of Liberty (64-67) by one shot. Janssen broke the record shared by Jacksonville University teammates Russell Knox and Duncan Stewart, who shot 13-under in 2006 at the Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando.
UNF’s Nick Gabrelcik (66-67—133), who was named the conference player of the year for the third time on Monday, is tied for fourth with teammate Robbie Higgins (64-69) at 11-under. Joseph Sullivan of JU (68-66—134) is tied for sixth at 10-under with Austin Cherichella of Florida Gulf Coast and Logan Spurrier of Austin Peay.
Polender is ninth at 9-under and Filip Raza (68-68) of JU is tied for 10th at 8-under.
ASUN officials crammed the first two rounds into one day on Tuesday because of threatening weather conditions due to move into the area on Wednesday afternoon. They are hopeful that the tournament can be completed before the forecasted storms hit.
Gabrelcik, the defending individual champion, bogeyed his first hole of the second round and then had a clean card after that. Higgins, who tied for second last year, birdied the final hole in both rounds.
Sullivan worked his way into contention with birdies on four of his last five holes.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Liberty gets off to blazing start, UNF second in ASUN men’s golf