Sept. 19, 2010
Golfweek Challenge Results in PDF Format 
BURLINGTON, Iowa - After heavy rains delayed the start of Sunday's first round, the Baylor men's golf team is tied for third at 3-under 285 through 18 holes at Golfweek's Conference Challenge. Sunday's opening round was moved back nearly three hours due to heavy rains throughout the night.
Baylor, which is tied for third with Southeastern Louisiana, is two shots behind North Carolina State for second place. Host Iowa leads the field by a 15-stroke margin, shooting 20-under 268 Sunday at Spirit Hollow Golf Course. The top two individual scores from Sunday's first round belong to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Chris Brant leads teammate Brad Hopfinger by one stroke; Brant shot an 8-under 64, while Hopfinger carded a 7-under 65.
"We had an okay day; it was just okay," head coach Greg Priest said. "It was there for the taking; we got off to a really good start, shot low right out of the gate.
"Drew (McGee) was 2-under and shot a 10 and Payne (Gniewek) was 2-under and made a seven," Priest said. "And then we went from first place to 12th in the matter a few holes. We battled back, regrouped and managed to make up some ground."
The Bears were one of only four teams to shoot under-par in Sunday's round. At one point in the first round, Baylor led by as many as five strokes.
"Once we got it back together, we didn't let our earlier mistakes totally take us out of it," Priest said. "We stubbed out toe out here today."
Juniors Joakim Mikkelsen and Lorenzo Scotto find themselves both in the top five after 18 holes. Mikkelsen is tied for third with Nevada's Scott Smith after shooting 4-under 68. The Drammen, Norway, native birdied three of his first four holes and is four shots behind the leader. Mikkelsen finished the day with five birdies to just one bogey.
"Joakim (Mikkelsen) made three birdies early and actually had it going pretty well," Priest said. "He hit the pin on 16 and it flung off the green. As a result, he had a bad lie in the rough and wound up with a bogey.
"That shows he's maturing," Priest said. "If something like that happened in the past, he would have unraveled and let it get away. Instead, the 16 was his only bogey of the day; he didn't let it bother him at all."
Scotto is one stroke behind Mikkelsen in a four-way tie for fifth place at 3-under 69. The Pordenone, Italy, finished the first round with five birdies and two bogeys.
"Lorenzo (Scotto) did what we need and expect from him," Priest said. "He was 1-over for a long time, but in the end, he put a really solid round together. That's what a veteran does."
Payne Gniewek is tied for 32nd after carding a 1-over 73. Sophomore Ryan O'Rear finished the first round in 48th at 2-over 75. Drew McGee, who was making his career-first appearance in the Baylor lineup, is tied for 61st overall at 6-over 78,
The second round of Golfweek's Conference Challenge will start with tee times beginning at 9 a.m. CDT Monday. Live scoring will be available on www.golfstat.com.
