Baylor men’s golf freshman Cooper Dossey is one of five players on the Golf Coaches Association of America All-Freshmen Team, the organization announced Wednesday.
Dossey is the first player in program history to earn GCAA All-Freshmen Team recognition. He joins Oregon’s Norman Xiong, Vanderbilt’s John Augenstein, Oklahoma State’s Viktor Hovland and Clemson’s Doc Redman on the All-Freshmen Team.
An Austin, Texas, native, Dossey earned 2017 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, becoming the second Baylor player to win the award. He’s the fourth player in program history to lead the team in scoring average as a freshman, joining Jimmy Walker (1997-98), Ryan Baca (2002-03) and Braden Bailey (2015-16). His 71.19 stroke average was the third-best single-season mark in school history, trailing only Kyle Jones (70.47 in 2014-15) and Baca (70.59 in 2005-06).
Dossey became the first freshman in program history to win Big 12 Golfer of the Month when he was honored for his performance in February. He helped Baylor to a tournament title at The All-American and a second-place finish at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate during the month. Dossey also won his career-first medalist honor by topping a 96-player field at The All-American.
Dossey, Bailey and Matthew Perrine gave Baylor three All-Big 12 honorees for the first time in school history. Hunter Shattuck and Garrett May joined that trio to give the Bears a school-record five Ping All-Central Region selections.
Dossey recorded Baylor’s best individual finish in an NCAA Tournament by taking second place at the Stanford Regional to help the Bears claim their first-ever Regional title. His 9-under-par 201 at the Regional tied the third-best score in any 54-hole tournament in program history. The Bears finished the season tied for fifth place at the 2017 NCAA Championships after falling 3-2 against Oklahoma in the match play quarterfinals. Dossey won his match over OU’s Blaine Hale, 1-up.
All told, Dossey earned six top-10 finishes in 12 tournaments and shot par or better in a team-high 23 of 37 rounds played, including six of seven NCAA Tournament rounds.
Third-year head coach Mike McGraw led the program to its most successful season in school history in 2016-17. He was named one of five finalists for the Dave Williams Award, presented annually to the national coach of the year, and fifth-year assistant coach Ryan Blagg won the 2017 Jan Strickland Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.
The Bears reached a No. 1 national ranking for the first time in program history when they ascended to the top spot in Golfweek’s April 3 rankings. They won four tournaments and earned seven top-three finishes out of 12 events played. Their tie for seventh in NCAA Championships stroke play earned the program’s first-ever match play berth and resulted in the best NCAA Championships result in program history.
BAYLOR 2016-17 SEASON HONORS
Braden Bailey
All-Central Region Team (Ping/GCAA)
All-Big 12 Team
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
Assistant Coach Ryan Blagg
Jan Strickland Award winner
Cooper Dossey
All-Freshmen Team (GCAA)
All-Central Region Team (Ping/GCAA)
Big 12 Newcomer of the Year
All-Big 12 Team
Big 12 Golfer of the Month (February 2017)
Jackson Heazel
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
Klein Klotz
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
Garrett May
All-Central Region Team (Ping/GCAA)
Academic All-Big 12 Second Team
Head Coach Mike McGraw
Dave Williams Award finalist
Matthew Perrine
All-Central Region Team (Ping/GCAA)
All-Big 12 Team
Big 12 All-Tournament Team
Big 12 Golfer of the Month (October 2016)
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
Hunter Shattuck
All-Central Region Team (Ping/GCAA)
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
Nick Thornton
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
