By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
Battling through the first course of the year, Baylor men’s golf finished third against tough competition at the inaugural Valero Texas Collegiate on Monday at TPC San Antonio.
Behind graduate student Johnny Keefer, the Bears finished the three-day event with a 4-under 860, just four shots behind TCU and nine shots behind the champion No. 3 Vanderbilt. Keefer finished the tournament tied for second place individually after two playoff holes to end the afternoon.
Baylor finished ahead of three ranked teams on the weekend, including No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 13 Virginia and No. 20 Georgia.
“This was a really solid start for our guys this week,” head coach Mike McGraw said. “It was good being in the thick of things in a tough field. We can definitely build on this performance.”
Keefer notched his ninth career top-five finish, which ties him for seventh-most in program history alongside Braden Bailey. The San Antonio native played the back nine to a tee, finishing at 10-under for the week and leading the field with 16 birdies.
Graduate student Luke Dossey carded his fourth-career top-10 finish with a tie for 10th, and it marked his first top-10 finish since February. Dossey finished the tournament at 2-under and tied the third-best par-3 scoring average (2.83). In addition, his 39 pars over the weekend were tied for the second-most in the field.
Sophomore Jonas Appel finished the weekend strong with a 1-under 71 on Monday and tied for 38th on the weekend at 6-over par. Senior Trey Bosco and junior Zach Heffernan each finished tied for 55th, carding a 10-over on the weekend.
Competing in his first career collegiate tournament, freshman Davis Ovard finished in a tie for 51st at 9-over after a tough 6-over 78 on Monday, highlighted by a birdie at No. 6.
Baylor men’s golf will be back in action Friday at the Fighting Illini Invitational. The three-day event will end Sunday in Olympia Fields, Ill.
