May 28, 2010

Baylor NCAA Championships Postseason Notes in PDF Format

NCAA Championships Tournament Central Page

Live Scoring For Stroke Play (June 1-3)

OOLTEWAH, TENN. - For only the fifth time in program history, the Baylor men's golf team is preparing for the NCAA Championships. The 113th NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, will be held June 1-6 at The Honors Course (par-72, 7,395 yards), approximately 20 miles from Chattanooga.

No. 29 seed Baylor, which defeated Georgia on the first playoff hole to earn the fifth and final berth from the NCAA South Central Regional, is making its first NCAA finals appearance under seventh-year head coach Greg Priest. The Bears are one of five Big 12 teams competing for an NCAA title in Tennessee, joining Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

"As I've said all year, we're only as good as our No. 5 spot and, right now, Cody (Paladino) is our fifth man," Priest said. "He's been in big events and played in the big-time environment; that's why I picked him (for the Championships). Hopefully, experience will pay off for us."

The Bears will be paired with LSU and Georgia Southern for the first and second rounds. The trio is scheduled to start from the No. 1 tee Tuesday at 7:35 a.m. CDT and Wednesday at 12:47 p.m. CDT from the No. 10 tee. Championship pairings for Thursday's final round of stroke play will be determined by 36-hole totals. Live scoring will be available at www.BaylorBears.com.

"All our hard work has paid off," Priest said. "Making the finals is huge for the program and helps build our team's confidence. I want the guys to enjoy the moment, but also understand there is a lot of work to do in order to get to match play."

Beginning with the 2009 championship, the NCAA adopted a match play format to determine the national team champion. The 30 teams and six individuals will play three 18-hole rounds (54 holes of stroke play) over the first three days (June 1-3) at the end of which the individual medalist is crowned on Thur., June 3. The top eight teams move on to match play. One round of single-elimination match play is played per day beginning Fri., June 4, with seeds determined through team finish in stroke play. The championship match will be played Sun., June 6.

"We don't want to focus on just getting the No. 8 spot," Priest said. "Our goal is to win the stroke play portion. There are eight spots, but I don't want the guys to settle on finishing eighth.

"I want us to get the best seed we can get for match play," Priest said. "We've never played in a match play event like this before. We've competed in match play against each other, but that is not the same. Our main goal right now is to get to match play and figure it out from there."

Four of the five golfers in Baylor's lineup will be making their NCAA Championships debut. Baylor, which owns the fifth-youngest lineup in the 30-team field, will be anchored by two juniors - Payne Gniewek and Cody Paladino - and three underclassmen - sophomores Joakim Mikkelsen, Lorenzo Scotto and freshman Ryan O'Rear. Last season, Paladino qualified as an individual for the NCAA Championships in Toledo, Ohio, where he tied for 47th.

Mikkelsen, Scotto and Gniewek have combined for 42 of Baylor's 63 rounds of par or better this season. Mikkelsen leads the Bears with a 72.85 scoring average through 40 rounds, followed by Scotto in second at 73.53 and Gniewek in third at 73.60.

"Joakim (Mikkelsen), Payne (Gniewek) and Lorenzo (Scotto) have done great things for us all season," Priest said. "They've definitely been inconsistent at sometimes, but only because they put so much pressure on themselves to play well. The more they let all that go, relax and play their best, they'll be fine."

Tickets are on sale now at GoMocs.com or by calling (423) 266-MOCS (6627). All-Session badge costs $45 and is good for all six days, while an Any-Session badge is $15 and can be used once on any day of the championship

ABOUT THE HONORS COURSE
Opened on July 2, 1983, the Honors Course was created to honor the game of amateur golf. The course is located just north of Chattanooga, Tenn., in a community known as Ooltewah. In keeping with its philosophy, the course has hosted many amateur tournaments including the USGA Men's Amateur and Mid-Amateur Championships, the Curtis Cup Matches and the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship. Last time The Honors hosted the NCAA Championship in 1996, it was won by Arizona State and Tiger Woods of Stanford.

BAYLOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Baylor is making its fifth NCAA finals appearance in program history and just the second of the Big 12 era. The Bears have made 13 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances (15 overall), including seven straight under head coach Greg Priest. Last year, Cody Paladino advanced to the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships as an individual.
1960 NCAA Championships (Colorado Springs, Colo.) - t9th
1966 NCAA Championships (Palo Alto, Calif.) - 24th
1967 NCAA Championships (Delaware, Pa.) - t31st
2002 NCAA Championships (Columbus, Ohio) - t15th

NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
Dates: Tue., June 1-Sun., June 6, 2010
Location: The Honors Course (Ooltewah, Tenn.)
Par/Yardage: 72/7,395 (Pete Dye Design)
Host: Chattanooga
Baylor Ranking (Golfstat/Golfweek): 53/49
Baylor Seed: No. 29
Championship Format: There will be 54 holes of stroke play over the first three days (June 1-3) to crown an individual champion and provide a cut to eight teams. Those eight, seeded by their finish in the medal format, will play single-elimination match play over the following three days (June 4-6) to determine the national champion.
Teams (Golfstat/Golfweek rankings): Oregon (1/9), Stanford (2/4), Texas A&M (3/2), Oklahoma State (4/1), Washington (5/3), UCLA (6/8), Texas (7/7), USC (8/10), Arizona State (9/16), Texas Tech (10/11), Florida (11/6), UNLV (12/15), Augusta State (13/5), Georgia Tech (14/17), Florida State (15/19), Illinois (18/12), Virginia (19/22), Clemson (20/14), Oregon State (21/24), North Florida (22/21), Duke (23/23), Tennessee (24/26), TCU (25/20), LSU (26/29), San Diego (27/31), Cal (34/27), Kent State (52/41), BAYLOR (53/49), Georgia Southern (58/56), Penn State (66/60)
Individuals: Marshall Bailey (Virginia Tech), Nick Delio (Cal State Northridge), Rhys Enoch (ETSU), Robbie Fillmore (BYU), Russell Henley (Georgia), Espen Kofstad (Denver)