By Collin Bryant | Sports Writer
The Baylor men’s golf team shot six over par 858 to take second in the team’s first tournament, the Gopher Invitational. Junior Garret May tied the school’s low-shooting record with a final round nine under 63 to win the individual title by 11 strokes.
The Bears ended Monday’s round four-over par, losing to Arkansas in the team competition by 10 strokes.
Junior Braden Bailey shot one-under 70 in the final round to tie for 10th place with a two over par 252. This was Bailey’s 11th top-10 finish at Baylor, tying Kory Bowman at ninth on the Bears’ top 10 finishes list.
Sophomore Cooper Dossey carded a 253, after a three over par final round to tie at 18th for the event.
Freshman Ryan Grider shot 74 in the final round to finish tied for 13th place with a score of 216 in his first collegiate start. Fellow freshman Travis Mclnroe shot 73 for the second time in three rounds and finished 11 over par to tie for 56th place.
Baylor head coach Mike McGraw said he was content with the finish his team had and that he felt there was a lot his team learned from the second-place finish.
“I feel like we learned a lot about ourselves this week, things I hope we can use going forward,” McGraw said. “Obviously we wanted to win, but Arkansas played terrific golf this week and deserved the win.”
Arkansas head coach Brad McMakin said in a press release that he was impressed with his team, especially after beating two top-10 teams.
“I am really proud of these guys for battling and coming out with a win against a great field here in Minnesota,” McMakin said. “Beating two top-10 teams and knocking off the defending national champions will give this team confidence that hopefully we can build on moving forward.”
May won the individual title at the Invitational, beating out more than 27 players in the field by 11 strokes. He finished 15 strokes under par with a score of 201 after 54 holes. May entered the final round tied for the lead before taking the lead after he birdied four of the first five holes of the day. May carded a 63 to tie Baylor’s single-round record set by Johnny Arreaga 43 years ago.
May parred the 16th and bogeyed the 17th, forcing him to make an eagle on the final hole to tie the record. May got to the par five, 573-yard, 18th hole green in two shots and then drained a 25-foot putt to tie the record.
Freshman Mark Reppe also had a productive tournament. He shot a one under 71 in his final round to tie for 10th place with a final score of 221. Reppe recorded six birdies, two eagles and two pars in his final round.
Sophomore Colin Kober shot an 11 over 83 in his final round to finish 15th in the individual tournament. To round out play, redshirt sophomore Austin Cotton finished in 23rd place after shooting a five over 77 final round to card a 16 over 232.
Baylor will be looking for a victory at the Fighting Illini Inivitational at Olympia Fields, III., Country Club. The three-day, 54-hole tournament runs this Friday through Sunday.
