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Takudzwa Chitsiga-Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN golfer, Kieran Vincent, was not at his beat as his Liberty State University managed a narrow 6-5 win during a two-day match play event against Charlotte University.

They batted on Monday and Tuesday, at Poplar Grove Golf Club.

Liberty, ranked 14th, came in with an upper hand over Charlotte, who are ranked in 41st place.

The Liberty Invitational, the first since 2015, also featured individual stroke play match-ups with golfers from Liberty, Charlotte and 39th-ranked Virginia Tech, taking part.

Liberty and Charlotte squared off in a Ryder Cup style event, with three rounds of match play.

Monday’s 36-hole event featured Fourball play, during the morning flight, and Foursomes groupings, during the afternoon.

Liberty won the Fourball round, 2-1, while Liberty and Charlotte split the Foursome matches, 1,5 to 1,5, in the afternoon.

 At the end of Day 1, Liberty held a 3,5 points against 2,5 points overall lead, in the match play event.

The two teams returned for five singles matches on Tuesday morning.

Ervin Chang secured the first point of the day, for the Flames, winning his match, 5-3, over Charlotte’s Carson Ownbey.

Charlotte recovered in the following two matches with Ben Woodruff defeating Liberty’s Jonathan Yaun, 4-3, while the 49ers Dongjin Park defeated the Flames’ Isaac Simmons, one-up.

The final match of the day was between Charlotte’s John Gough and Liberty’s Vincent, the number ten ranked player, in college golf, in the country.

Vincent was two-up after eight holes, before Gough got one back with a birdie at the ninth.

A nice approach shot to five feet allowed Gough to close the match with a birdie to square the individual match.