Baylor men’s golf is tied for fifth place after day one at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Friday’s first round play was suspended due to darkness with the Bears sitting at 3-under-par late in the round.
None of the 15 teams in the afternoon wave completed their rounds, which will be resumed at 6:30 a.m. CT Saturday. Baylor (-3) trails only No. 4 Vanderbilt (-8), No. 20 Auburn (-6), No. 3 Oklahoma State (-5) and No. 1 USC (-4). Auburn, No. 22 Ole Miss (-1) and No. 31 Alabama (-1) were the only teams to finish their first rounds with below-par scores.
Baylor got off to a great start and had a three-stroke lead on the field at 9-under-par midway through the first round, but the momentum halted when play was suspended shortly after 3 p.m. due to lightning. Teams were sent back to the course approximately an hour later, but just a few shots later torrential rains forced an approximately 90-minute delay.
The rain cleared and play was resumed around 6:15 p.m., but with wet conditions scores began to rise across the board. Baylor players combined for 12 birdies and only four bogeys on the front-nine, but the Bears recorded three birdies and eight bogeys while completing only two-thirds of the back-nine.
Hunter Shattuck sits in a tie for seventh place at 3-under-par through 16 holes. He made birdies on Nos. 1, 4, 7 and 8 to take the turn at 4-under, and he bounced back from a bogey on No. 10 with another birdie on No. 11. He made four pars and one bogey over his final five holes before play was suspended for the day.
Matthew Perrine is tied for 24th place at 1-under through 15 holes. He got off to a scorching start with three birdies on the first four holes, but a pair of bogeys after the delays brought his score down to 1-under. Cooper Dossey is tied for 41st place at even-par through 15 holes. He took the turn at 1-under, but began with consecutive bogeys after the delays before getting back to par with a birdie on No. 14.
Braden Bailey is tied for 62nd place at 1-over through 14 holes, and Garrett May is tied for 89th place at 2-over through 16 holes. Bailey fought back from a double bogey on No. 4 and got to even-par with birdies on Nos. 8 and 11 before finishing the day with a bogey on No. 14. May was 1-under at the turn after birdies on Nos. 2 and 9, but he shot 3-over across seven holes after the delays.
HIGHLIGHTS
Baylor ranks sixth in the 30-team field in par-4 scoring at 2-over 4.05, tied for fifth in par-5 scoring at 5-under 4.67 and 11th in par-3 scoring at 2-over 3.12.
Baylor’s 15 birdies are tied for eighth-most in the field despite not completing the first round.
All five Baylor players made multiple birdies on the first day, and those five players combined for 12 birdies on the front-nine.
Hunter Shattuck’s five birdies are tied for sixth-most in the 156-player field.
STAT OF THE DAY
4-under – Hunter Shattuck was the only golfer in the 156-player field to play the front-nine at 4-under on Friday. He made birdies on Nos. 1, 4, 7 and 8 and pars on Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9.
WHAT'S NEXT
Teams resume play at 6:30 a.m. CT Saturday to complete their first rounds. Baylor is scheduled to begin its second round at 7:37 a.m. in the same pairings with golfers from LSU and Stanford. May will be first to tee off for the second round at 7:37 a.m., and he’ll be followed by Shattuck (7:48 a.m.), Dossey (7:59 a.m.), Perrine (8:10 a.m.) and Bailey (8:21 a.m.). Live scoring is available on www.golfstat.com. Follow @BaylorMGolf on Twitter and Facebook for updates throughout the season.
