By Kamri Alexander | Reporter
The Colonial Collegiate Invitational was a great opportunity for Baylor to show its strength as the team faced some of college golf’s best competition. Nine teams from the latest men’s Division I Golfweek top-25 rankings were present. Head coach Mike McGraw was excited for the team to be facing who he said were some of the best teams from the SEC and Big 12.
Baylor’s team looked a little different going into the tournament with freshman Zach Heffernan and junior Scout McNealy making their debut in the lineup.
“We have two new players in the lineup: Zach Heffernan, a freshman from Bourne, and Scout [McNealy],” McGraw said. “Scout is a junior that has never played in a varsity event, which is great. I’m excited for him. That’s a big deal when you get to play your first event for a Division I team.”
Junior Johnny Keefer rose to the competition on day one with impressive scores. The highlight of his day was four-straight birdies in the opening round after 10 even pars. Keefer was the only Bear to score under par in round one with a 2-under-par 68. After an even-par finish in round two, Keefer was able to tie for second place individually, with 2-under-par 138 on the first day.
Senior Mark Reppe began Monday morning strong shooting below or even par his first nine holes. He ended the day 8-over-par tied for No. 50.
Junior Luke Dossey is known for being a final-round player and continued to showcase that ability this tournament. After a 12-over-par 152 score Monday, Dossey led the team in scoring with even par on the second day, boosting him 12 spots up the leaderboard to tie for 54th place. Dossey’s second day was highlighted by pulling off a birdie in Colonial’s notorious “horrible horseshoe.”
Keefer led the way for the Bears on day two with a 54-hole score of 3-over-par 213 to tie for 20th for his second top-25 finish of the season and the 10th in his career.
Keefer and Dossey both tied for second-best par-3s in the tournament, averaging 3.00.
Reppe played consistent his first nine holes Tuesday, shooting even par. He finished the day 3-over-par 73 and tied for 51st place.
Heffernan and McNealy both successfully finished their first varsity tournament of their college careers Tuesday 10-over-par 80. Heffernan tied for 66th and McNealy finished 74th in their tournament debuts, as the Bears ultimately finished 15th in the competition.
Baylor will be back out on the course for the Big 12 Match Play Championships on Oct. 11-13 at The Golf Club of Houston.
