Baylor men’s golf shot 6-over-par 858 to take second place in the 16-team Gopher Invitational, and Garrett May tied the school record by shooting a final round 9-under 63 to win the Gopher Individual title by 11 strokes at 15-under 201.
The Bears (+6) carded a 4-over 288 in Monday’s final round to finish 10 strokes back of Arkansas (-4). BU was one shot better than preseason No. 3 Oklahoma (+7) in third place. No. 23 Kent State (+8) took fourth, followed by No. 23 Pepperdine (+14), Michigan State (+17), No. 21 Arizona State (+18), Charlotte (+21), Purdue (+22) and San Diego State (+23) rounding out the top 10.
BU also earned victories over Virginia Tech (+25), Minnesota (+27), Penn State (+31), Iowa (+41), New Mexico (+44) and St. John’s of Minnesota (+91). Matthew Perrine carded final round even-par 71 to tie for fifth place individually at 1-under-par 212. It was Perrine’s ninth consecutive top-10 finish in regular season tournaments and moved him into eighth on Baylor’s all-time list with 12 career top-10 finishes.
Braden Bailey shot 1-under 70 in the final round to tie for 10th place at 2-over 215. It was his 11th career top-10 finish, moving him into a tie with Kory Bowman for ninth on the Bears’ all-time list. Freshman Ryan Grider shot 3-over 74 in the final round to finish tied for 13th place at 3-over 216 in his collegiate debut.
Cooper Dossey carded a final round of 3-over 74 to finish tied for 18th place at 4-over 217, and redshirt freshman Travis McInroe shot 2-over 73 for the second time in three rounds and finished with an 11-over 224 to tie for 56th place.
May won the Gopher Invitational’s sister tournament, the Gopher Individual, topping the 27-player field by 11 strokes. He entered Monday’s final round tied for the lead and never looked back after making birdie on four of the first five holes. He carded eight birdies over the first 15 holes to get within striking distance of the Baylor single-round record of 63 set by Johnny Arreaga in 1963.
May made par on No. 16 and followed with a bogey on No. 17 to drop to 7-under on the day. Needing an eagle on the 573-yard, par-5 18th hole to tie the record, he reached the green in two and calmly drained a 25-foot putt to put match Arreaga with a 9-under 63.
May’s 54-hole total of 15-under 201 matched his career best and tied the third-best 54-hole total in program history. Dossey and May both shot 201 during the 2016-17 season, with May’s 201 at the 2016 Maui Jim Intercollegiate and Dossey’s at the 2017 NCAA Stanford Regional.
Freshman Mark Reppe shot 1-under 71 in the final round to climb four spots into a tie for 10th place at 5-over 221. Reppe played the four par-5 holes five shots better than anyone else in the tournament, recording six birdies, two eagles and two pars to finish with a 4.17 par-5 scoring average.
Sophomore Colin Kober shot 11-over 83 in the final round to finish 15th at 8-over 224. Redshirt sophomore Austin Cotton finished in 23rd place after shooting 5-over 77 in the final round to card 16-over 232 overall.
GOPHER INVITATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Baylor ranked second in the 16-team field in par-5 scoring at 15-under 4.67, tied for second in par-4 scoring at 23-over 4.14 and tied for ninth in par-3 scoring at 11-over 3.18.
Baylor’s 43 birdies in the tournament tied for second-most in the field, and the Bears tied for sixth with 167 pars.
Travis McInroe ranked second in the 87-player field in par-5 scoring at 6-under 4.33.
Matthew Perrine tied for sixth in par-4 scoring at even-par 4.00.
Braden Bailey tied for eighth in par-5 scoring at 4-under 4.56 and tied for 15th in par-3 scoring at even-par 3.00.
Ryan Grider tied for 14th in par-4 scoring at 3-over 4.09.
Grider and Bailey tied for the team lead and ranked 11th in the field with 10 birdies over 54 holes.
Perrine made 39 pars, tied for fifth-most, while Dossey tied for 10th with 36 pars.
Dossey recorded his eighth career top-25 finish and has now placed top-40 in all 13 collegiate tournaments.
GOPHER INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
Garrett May tied Johnny Arreaga’s school record round of 63 set vs. Texas Tech in 1963.
May also matched his own total of 201 for the third-best score in 54-hole score in BU history.
May recorded one eagle, eight birdies, eight pars and one bogey. He recorded birdies on Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 12, 14 and 15, and his eagle came on the 573-yard, par-5 18th hole.
May topped the 27-player field by 11 strokes, the same margin between second and 14th place.
May led the tournament in par-4 scoring at 10-under 3.67, ranked second in par-3 scoring at even-par 3.00 and tied for second in par-5 scoring at 5-under 4.58.
May’s 17 birdies were five more than any other player in the field.
Mark Reppe led the field in par-5 scoring at 10-under 4.17, which was five strokes better than any other player. Reppe was one of three players to make two eagles in the tournament.
Colin Kober tied for third in the field with 11 birdies.
STAT OF THE DAY
63 – Garrett May sank eight birdies and an eagle on his way to matching the school record with a 9-under-par 63. It was his career-first collegiate tournament title after earning two second-place finishes last season.
TOP QUOTE
"I feel like we learned a lot about ourselves this week, things I hope we can use going forward," head coach Mike McGraw said. "Obviously, we wanted to win, but Arkansas player terrific golf this week and deserved the win."
