After claiming half of the championships during the decade, Liberty’s golf team was well represented on the 2010-19 Big South Conference Men’s Golf All-Decade Team.
Mathieu Fenasse, Robert Karlsson and Chase Marinell were three of the 10 players named to the all-decade listing. Also, Liberty’s Jeff Thomas was named the top head coach during the 10-year span.
During the 2010-19 decade, Liberty captured five Big South Conference titles – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Throughout the month of June, the Big South will be recognizing each sport’s top student-athletes and coaches from the recently completed decade. Liberty wrapped up its 27-year Big South Conference membership on June 30, 2018, departing for the ASUN Conference.
The Flames excelled during their final years of Big South competition, earning seven Sasser Cups and 62 Big South team championships between 2010-18.
A 15-person committee of Big South Conference administrators served as the official voting panel to determine the All-Decade Team, with fan voting comprising 20 percent of the overall total. The 2010-19 Men’s Golf All-Decade Team is listed below in alphabetical order and features 10 players and one head coach. In case of ties, additional honorees have been added.
Fenasse (2012-15) was named to the GCAA/PING All-Region East team twice during his career (2014 and 2015), and he was the Big South Men’s Golf Championship medalist in 2013.
The three-time All-Big South selection (2013-15), who hailed from Lias, France, posted 16 career top-10 finishes. He completed his days as a Flame with a 73.41 career stroke average, which ranks 10th best in program history.
Karlsson’s (2009-12) arrival marked the beginning of Liberty men’s golf becoming a perennial national top-40 program. He became the program’s first All-American when he was named to the GCAA/PING All-America third team in 2012, and he was a four-time All-Big South honoree.
The native of Kalmar, Sweden, holds the lowest career stroke average in program history at 72.02. He posted 31 career top-10 finishes and claimed medalist honors six times, including individual titles at the 2010 and 2012 Big South Men’s Golf Championship.
Marinell (2011-14) began his career as the 2011 Big South Freshman of the Year and capped his days at Liberty as the 2014 Big South Men’s Golfer of the Year.
Marinell was named to the All-Big South squad three times (2012-14) and ranks ninth in program history with a 73.04 career stroke average. The native of Fort Myers, Fla., ended his career with 18 top-10 finishes and played 40.3 percent of his rounds at par or better (54-of-134).
Since taking over the program in 2004, Thomas has systemically helped Liberty men’s golf become one of the consistently elite programs in the country. While guiding the Flames to five Big South titles, he was named the Big South Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011 and 2018.
Thomas, a 1995 graduate of the men’s golf program, saw his team make eight NCAA Regional appearances during the decade (2011-14, 2016-19). The Flames also made appearances at the 2012 and 2019 NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship, including a 10th place in their first-ever appearance at the national championship in 2012.
The Big South Conference previously announced additional all-decade teams as part of its 30th anniversary celebration during the 2013-14 academic year.
Liberty’s four selections to the 2010-19 team mark the first time the men’s golf program has placed a golfer or coach on the Big South Men’s Golf All-Decade Teams.