Baylor men’s golf made a late rally to win its first-ever NCAA Regional title, matching Stanford with a three-round total of 17-under-par 823 at the Stanford (Calif.) Regional. With the win, Baylor earned the seventh NCAA Championships berth in program history.
Baylor trailed by two strokes with only one player remaining on the 18th hole in Wednesday’s final round. Freshman Cooper Dossey sank a six-foot par putt, while Stanford’s Maverick McNealy three-putt for double bogey after hitting his approach into a bunker on the left side of the green. Dossey finished his round at 3-under-par 67, and his par on No. 18 pushed him in front of McNealy to take second place individually at 9-under-par 201.
BU trailed by as many as five strokes late in the round, but Dossey got the comeback started with an eagle on the par-5 16th hole. Dossey finished three strokes back of medalist Brad Dalke of Oklahoma, who shot 1-under 69 in the final round to finish at 12-under 198. Dossey’s second-place finish was the best individual result in an NCAA Tournament in program history, beating Cody Paladino’s tie for third place at the 2009 NCAA South Central Regional.
Senior Hunter Shattuck and junior Matthew Perrine tied for seventh place at 3-under 207. Perrine carded a final round 1-over 71, while Shattuck scored 2-over 72. Braden Bailey tied for 27th place at 4-over 214 after shooting 4-over 74 in the final round, and Garrett May shot 1-over 71 on Wednesday to tie for 38th place at 6-over 216.
The No. 9-ranked Bears (-17) matched No. 4 Stanford (-17) on the Cardinal’s home course, and both teams easily qualified for the NCAA Championships. No. 27 Pepperdine (-5), No. 15 Oklahoma (-3) and No. 33 North Carolina (+3) also earned Championships berths by finishing among the top five teams.
No. 21 Georgia Tech (+4) missed the cut by one stroke, followed by No. 41 North Florida (+5), No. 45 BYU (+12), Ohio State (+26), Houston (+27), UC Santa Barbara (+34), Sacramento State (+48) and South Dakota State (+59).
Baylor has now qualified for the NCAA Championships in consecutive seasons for the second time in program history, matching the feat accomplished prior to regional qualifiers in 1966 and 1967. BU also earned Championships berths in 1960, 2002, 2010 and 2016.
HIGHLIGHTS
Baylor earned the seventh NCAA Championships berth in program history – 1960, 1966, 1967, 2002, 2010, 2016 and 2017.
Baylor is one of 14 schools with both men’s and women’s golf earning NCAA Championships berths. BU joined Texas as the only Big 12 teams in that group.
Head coach Mike McGraw has led teams to the NCAA Championships in 18 of his 20 seasons as a Division I coach.
Baylor’s 54-hole total of 823 broke the school record for best NCAA Tournament score by 36 strokes.
The Bears’ rounds of 265, 277 and 281 ranked first, third and tied for fifth, respectively, on Baylor’s NCAA Tournament single-round scoring list.
Baylor led the 13-team field in par-3 scoring at 5-over 3.07 and par-5 scoring at 27-under 4.40. BU finished third in par-4 scoring at 17-over 4.11.
Baylor’s 58 birdies tied Stanford for most in the field.
Baylor players combined for eight rounds of 68 or better at the Regional – BU had a total of seven rounds of 68 or better in all NCAA Tournaments entering this season.
Cooper Dossey tied for the tournament lead in par-5 scoring at 8-under 4.11 and tied for third in par-4 scoring at 3-under 3.90.
Hunter Shattuck tied for second in par-3 scoring at 1-under 2.93.
Shattuck’s 16 birdies tied for second-most in the field, one back of the lead.
Braden Bailey tied for sixth in par-3 scoring at even-par 3.00 and tied for sixth in par-5 scoring at 6-under 4.33.
Matthew Perrine tied for sixth in par-5 scoring at 6-under 4.33 and tied for ninth in par-4 scoring at 1-over 4.03.
Perrine’s 13 birdies were sixth-most in the tournament.
STAT OF THE DAY
201 – Cooper Dossey’s 54-hole total of 201 broke the Baylor NCAA Tournament record by eight strokes – the previous best was 209 by Ryan Baca at the 2006 NCAA West Regional and by Payne Gniewek at the 2011 NCAA Southeast Regional. Matthew Perrine and Braden Bailey tied for the second-best NCAA Tournament score at 207.
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor advanced to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships, which run March 26-31 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
