Baylor women’s golf took third place in the Dick McGuire Invitational after shooting 5-under-par 283 in Tuesday’s final round at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course. BU finished at 10-under-par 854, 10 strokes back of Arizona State (-20) and one shot back of Oklahoma State (-11).
Sophomore Maria Vesga and freshman Fiona Liddell both carded 54-hole scores of 4-under 212 to finish tied for 11th place individually. Vesga shot 3-under 69 in her second round and 2-over 74 in her final round, while Liddell shot even-par 72 in the second round and 3-under 69 in the final round, recording all three rounds of the tournament at par or better.
Redshirt sophomore Dylan Kim tied for 17th place at 1-under 215 after shooting 4-over 76 in the second round and 3-under 69 in the final round. Freshman Evelyn Arguelles tied for 25th place at 1-over 217 following a second round 72 and a final round 71. Senior Maggie Beth Byers tied for 59th place at 8-over 224, and junior USC transfer Amy Lee, who was competing as an individual, recorded a team-best ninth place finish at 6-under 210 following a second round 6-under 66 and a final round 2-under 70.
Baylor (-10) finished behind Arizona State (-20) and Oklahoma State (-11), but the Bears placed ahead of Northwestern (-9), Arizona (-3), Oklahoma (-2), Colorado (E), New Mexico (+3), California (+6), San Diego State (+8), Iowa State (+13), Pepperdine (+16), Denver (+17), Washington State (+26), UNLV (+33) and UC Davis (+41).
HIGHLIGHTS
Baylor tied for the tournament lead in par-3 scoring at 1-under 2.98.
BU finished second in par-4 scoring at 7-over 4.05 and seventh in par-5 scoring at 6-under 4.90.
Baylor’s 185 pars over the three rounds were third-most in the 16-team field, and BU had 45 birdies, good for a tie for sixth-most.
Amy Lee made eight birdies as part of her 6-under-par 66 in the second round.
Dylan Kim made seven birdies, including five birdies in a six-hole stretch, as part of her 3-under 69 final round.
Maria Vesga tied for fourth out of 93 players with a 3-under 2.75 par-3 scoring average.
Freshmen Fiona Liddell and Evelyn Arguelles and junior Amy Lee tied for the team lead and tied for 10th in par-4 scoring at 1-under 3.97.
Lee posted a 6-under 4.50 par-5 scoring average, tied for fourth-best in the field.
Maggie Beth Byers made a tournament-high 47 pars, including all 18 holes in the first round.
Lee made a team-high 14 birdies, tying for seventh-most in the field. Liddell tied for ninth with 13 birdies, Kim added 12 birdies to tie for 11th, and Vesga and Arguelles tied for 18th with 10 birdies apiece.
STAT OF THE DAY
8 – the number of birdies made by junior Amy Lee as part of her team-best 6-under 66 second round. She began the round of the 14th hole and made birdies on six of the first 10 holes – Nos. 14, 18, 1, 2, 3 and 5, and she added birdies on No. 9 and No. 12.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It wasn’t our ideal finish today, but I would say it was a successful start to the season,” head coach Jay Goble said. “We saw some new faces have good starts to their careers here at Baylor, and I know the future is bright. I’m really proud of our entire team, especially Fiona Liddell, who came in and made her mark as a freshman in her first event. She played really solid golf all week, and today’s round was her best.”
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor remains on the road to play in the Mason Rudolph Championship, while runs Friday through Sunday at Vanderbilt Legends Golf Club in Nashville, Tenn.
