Oct. 1, 2005
The 2005-06 Baylor men's golf team enters the season with high expectations with the return to the lineup of senior All-American Ryan Baca, who received a redshirt and missed the entire 2004-05 season. Head coach Greg Priest was unsure how his young Bears would respond to Baca's absence a year ago, but Jeremy Alcorn stepped up to assume the leadership and earned All-America and unanimous All-Big 12 honors and now returns for his junior season.
Nearly all of last year's squad returns, including all of the regular starters, and Priest added a solid recruiting class of three able freshmen.
Last season, the Bears appeared in their eighth straight NCAA Regional, but Priest is not content with only making the postseason, he would like to see Baylor make some noise in the postseason.
"We need to get over that hump," said Priest, who is now in his third season at the helm. "We've proven we can get into the regionals consistently, now we need to get to the NCAA Championships on an annual basis."
Priest believes the return of Baca and the maturity of the rest of the team through increased playing time can help Baylor reach its goals. During the 2003-04 season, Baca posted a 72.95 scoring average and five top-10 finshes, including his third career individual title at the UTSA Roadrunner Intercollegiate. This past summer, Baca began his road to recovery and qualified for the U.S. Amateur championship by winning his regional qualifier.
"I think Ryan is just ready to get back on the golf course," Priest said. "I think last year was a good time for him to redshirt, because he has never taken a break and now he realizes how much he enjoys golf. He wasn't able to get going until late in the summer, but at the U.S. Amateur he was able to get back into that (championship) atmosphere and assured him that he can still play at a high level."
Last season was a career year for Alcorn by any standards. He earned PING All-America, All-Big 12 Conference first team and two Big 12 Golfer of the Month (October and March) honors. Alcorn was among the top five in the conference with a 71.76 scoring average, the second-best mark in Baylor history, and won three individual titles, tying the school's season-best mark for wins.
"I don't know if Jeremy thought his success would come that soon, but he's a great athlete and competitor," Priest said. "Two All-Americans in the lineup gives us a great 1-2 punch. With Ryan being out, Jeremy assumed a lot of the leadership, but now they share the responsibilities and there's a great, friendly competition between them for that top spot."
Junior Jeremy Frye has started every tournament since he's been at Baylor and is looking for a breakout season after going through a mild sophomore slump. Frye recorded a 74.51 stroke average, just below his freshman year average of 74.54.
"Jeremy put together some good rounds last year and he's worked really hard with a new teacher," Priest said. "He played well at the regional and made it to match play at the U.S. Amateur, so his hard work is starting to pay off. If he continues in that form, he could have a tremendous junior year."
Redshirt freshman Bill Allcorn has been the surprise of the offseason for the Bears, winning his U.S. Amateur regional qualifier by seven shots. This past summer, Allcorn made the quarterfinals of the Cotton States Championship and was the runner up at the Collegiate Tour Players Championship.
"Bill is a hard worker and he's out here everyday putting in a ton of time," Priest said. "He got a new teacher in the spring and is starting to see results. We were surprised to see him develop this fast, but it's great to see him do it."
Baylor also returns juniors Colton Turnquist and Chase Thomas, who started every spring tournament after transferring from other schools in January. Turnquist, a transfer from Texas, had a 74.21 stroke average for the spring and carded a 64 in the final round of the NCAA Regional, the lowest postseason round in school history and just one stroke off the school record. Thomas, who transferred from New Mexico, also had a solid spring, averaging 74.63 strokes per round, and tying for eighth at the Big 12 Championships to earn all-tournament honors.
The Bears also return senior Will McDonald and sophomores Matt Briggs, Brian Meck and Wes Williams. Briggs averaged 74.00 strokes for the year, while McDonald, Meck and Williams were each a shade over 75. Baylor's depth was also improved with the freshman class of AJGA All-American Jeff Gerlich, two-time Texas Class 2A state champion Colton Williams and FCWT All-American Weldon Martin.
"Last year everybody got playing time," Priest said. "We have a lot of talented players now, so if something happens to one player, then we shouldn't skip a beat. There's going to be heated competition for the five starting spots, so the one's who are able to crack the starting lineup - you know they're playing well."
The competition in the Big 12 Conference is always fierce with nine schools earning spots in the NCAA Regionals. Baylor is coming off a seventh-place finish at last year's conference championship and looks to improve upon that mark when the championship moves to Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., the site of many PGA Tour major events.
"With your best player out of the lineup, you never know what to expect," Priest said. "But we won some tournaments, had a lot of people step up and only missed the NCAA Championship by five shots, so I've been looking forward to getting this season started since we finished up last year."
