Baylor men’s golf is No. 4 in the preseason Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll released Friday, giving the Bears their highest preseason ranking in program history.
Baylor received 398 points in the preseason poll, trailing only No. 1 Oklahoma State (507), No. 2 Vanderbilt (467) and No. 3 Oklahoma (460). The Bears are followed by No. 5 Illinois (397), No. 6 Texas (376), No. 7 LSU (368), No. 8 USC (365), No. 9 Oregon (332) and No. 10 Florida (309). Texas Tech is No. 22, giving the Big 12 Conference five preseason top-25 teams.
Baylor enters its fourth season under head coach Mike McGraw, and the Bears are coming off back-to-back NCAA Championship appearances for the second time in program history. BU returns four of its top five players from last year’s squad that achieved the program’s first No. 1 national ranking.
The Bears were co-champions at the 2017 NCAA Stanford Regional, claiming the first regional title in BU men’s golf history. Baylor advanced to match play for the first time in program history at the 2017 NCAA Championship, finishing tied for fifth place after falling in a quarterfinal playoff against eventual national champion Oklahoma.
McGraw returns a trio of All-Americans with senior Matthew Perrine, junior Braden Bailey and sophomore Cooper Dossey, and junior Garrett May returns after earning All-Region honors. The Bears also welcome back sophomore Colin Kober, redshirt freshman Travis McInroe and redshirt sophomore Austin Cotton.
BU also adds a pair of freshmen from Texas high schools who were ranked among the nation’s top 100 recruits. Ryan Grider was ranked No. 37 nationally and No. 5 among Texas recruits, and Mark Reppe was No. 83 nationally and No. 10 in Texas in Golfweek’s 2017 recruiting rankings.
Assistant coach Ryan Blagg is back for his sixth season with the Bears after winning the 2017 Jan Strickland Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.
