May 28, 2017
NCAA Championships Round Three Results and Statistics 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Baylor men's golf cleared the first of two hurdles to make it to match play at the NCAA Championships, shooting 1-under-par 287 in Sunday's third round and remaining in a tie for seventh at 9-under 855 as the field was whittled in half to the top 15 teams.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Fourteen of the top 25 teams survived the first cut, with the remaining 15 squads playing the final round of stroke play on Monday at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., trying to qualify for the eight-team match play that begins Tuesday.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Baylor came in comfortably in front of the cut, 17 shots ahead of 16th-place Arizona State, and is nine shots behind 54-hole leader Vanderbilt (18-under, 846). The Bears are tied with Virginia and also trail Oklahoma, UNLV, Southern Cal, Illinois and Oklahoma State.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"You certainly weren't going to look past making the original cut. And we've successfully done that," said Baylor coach Mike McGraw, whose team finished 27th last year. "We're in a position now where we're going to have to go out and play some really good golf, just because the wind is going to blow 15 to 20 (mph). . . . The golf course will be a lot more of a challenge. It's just a matter of whether or not you can handle the inevitable crazy things that will happen to you at least once or twice during the round."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Junior Matthew Perrine was inching up the individual leader board on Sunday, getting to 3-under for the day and 8-under for the tournament, just four shots off the lead. But, he bogeyed his two closing holes at Nos. 8 and 9, shooting 1-under 71 and falling back to a tie for 10th at 6-under 210.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"He hit a bad wedge at 8, buried it in the bunker," McGraw said. "Then, he hit a fairway bunker on 9, hit a 7-iron out of that fairway bunker and got a buried line in the green-side bunker. So, he hits into bunkers on three consecutive full swings and two of them are buried. He probably didn't have the best feeling coming off the golf course. But, he's playing great. That's the good news, he still shot under-par today."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹With a relatively clean round of 1-under-par 71 that included 15 pars, two birdies and one bogey, freshman Cooper Dossey moved up to a tie for 24th with senior Hunter Shattuck at 3-under 213. Shattuck started the day in sixth place and had a decent round going through 13 holes before a bogey at No. 5 and double-bogey on the par-4 sixth hole.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"He was right there to shoot an even-par round, but just let things get away from him," McGraw said of Shattuck, who shot 3-over 75.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Sophomore Braden Bailey was 2-over for the day and 8-over for the tournament after a double-bogey at No. 5, his 14th hole, before chip-in birdies at his last two holes to get back to even-par 72 for the day and 6-over for the tournament.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"He played great, he just wasn't getting anything going," McGraw said. "He couldn't make any birdie putts, didn't hit it close enough to get great looks. He was looking for a spark, and he certainly got it when he chipped in on 8. And then, obviously, the chip-in on 9 was crazy."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Garrett May recovered from a 3-over on the back nine, with Baylor starting from the 10th, to make a pair of birdies on the front nine and give the Bears their fourth scoring round at 1-over 73.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Dealing with high winds and the pressure of finishing in the top eight in Monday's final round of stroke play, McGraw said, "Quite frankly, it just comes down to who sort of has that internal competitive button that they push that says, `It doesn't matter what it throws at me today, I'm going to figure it out.' We just have to stay in that mindset. Whether it's windy or not, that's where you want to be."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Paired with Virginia and Auburn in the final groups off the 10th, Baylor's five golfers will tee off between 1:10 and 1:50 p.m. CDT Monday. Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com, with Golf Channel providing live coverage from 3 to 7 p.m.
THE RUNDOWN
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. -- Baylor men's golf remains tied for seventh place at the NCAA Championships after shooting 1-under-par 287 in Sunday's third round. The Bears sit at 9-under 855 heading to Monday's fourth and final round of stroke play.
The 30-team field was cut to 15 following Sunday's round, and Baylor (-9) was 17 strokes in front of the cut and nine shots back of the lead held by No. 4 Vanderbilt (-18). BU also trails No. 17 Oklahoma (-17), No. 16 UNLV (-17), No. 1 USC (-17), No. 8 Illinois (-14) and No. 3 Oklahoma State (-12), and the Bears are tied with No. 18 Virginia (-9).
Additional teams advancing to Monday's fourth round include No. 20 Auburn (-8), No. 6 LSU (-6), No. 14 Texas (-5), No. 24 Florida State (-4), No. 9 Oregon (+1), No. 25 Pepperdine (+5) and No. 47 UCF (+7).
The top eight teams following Monday's round advance to match play on Tuesday and Wednesday to determine the national champion. Baylor is currently inside the top eight by one stroke.
The Bears got off to a strong start on Sunday with five birdies over their first three holes, but they went without a birdie over the next seven holes until Braden Bailey broke through on No. 2, which was the 11th hole of the day as BU teed off from No. 10. BU closed strong, with 10 birdies over its final eight holes, including three apiece over their final eight by Bailey and Matthew Perrine.
Perrine and Cooper Dossey carded the Bears' best rounds of the day at 1-under 71. Perrine started with birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 and took the turn at even-par before making three birdies in a six-hole stretch on Nos. 2, 5 and 7 to get to 3-under, but he finished with consecutive bogeys. Dossey nearly played a clean round with his only bogey on No. 18, but he made 15 pars and sank birdies on Nos. 12 and 8 to finish 1-under.
Perrine is tied for 10th individually at 6-under-par 210, six strokes back of the lead, while Dossey and Hunter Shattuck are tied for 24th place at 3-under 213. Shattuck took Sunday's turn at even-par after a birdie on No. 10 and a bogey on No. 16, but he finished at 3-over 75.
Bailey finished strong, chipping in for birdies on his final two holes to card an even-par 72. He finished with four birdies on the day, sinking them on Nos. 10, 2, 8 and 9, but bogeys on Nos. 13 and 15, and a double bogey after finding the hazard on No. 5 dropped him to even-par. He's tied for 85th place at 6-over 222.
Garrett May recovered from taking the turn at 3-over to post the Bears' final counting score of the day at 1-over 73. He made bogey on No. 13 and double bogey on No. 16, but he finished with nine pars and two birdies over his final 11 holes, draining birdie putts on Nos. 4 and 7 to get to 1-over.
If Baylor advances to match play by finishing in the top-eight teams following Monday's round, the Bears will guarantee their best NCAA Championships finish in program history, topping the previous best of a tie for ninth place at the 1960 Championships.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Baylor made 15 birdies on the day -- five over the first three holes, none over the next seven holes, and 10 over the final eight holes.
- Baylor is tied for second in the 30-team field in par-4 scoring at 13-over 4.09, ninth in par-5 scoring at 20-under 4.67 and tied for 11th in par-3 scoring at 9-over 3.15.
- Baylor's 167 pars across three rounds are tied for fifth-most in the field, and its 54 birdies are tied for eighth-most.
- Matthew Perrine is tied for second in the 156-player field in par-3 scoring at 3-under 2.75, tied for 11th in par-5 scoring at 7-under 4.42 and tied for 18th with 13 birdies.
- Perrine led the team with five birdies, and he's tied for 18th in the tournament with 13 birdies over three rounds.
- Cooper Dossey is tied for third in the field with 39 pars, tied for seventh in par-4 scoring at 1-under 3.97 and tied for 11th in par-3 scoring at 1-under 2.92.
- Hunter Shattuck is tied for 12th in the field with 14 birdies and tied for 17th in par-4 scoring at 1-over 4.03.
STAT OF THE DAY
6 -- Baylor players finished strong with six birdies over their final three holes on Sunday (Nos. 7, 8 and 9). Those six birdies were more than the Bears made over the first 10 holes in Sunday's round (five) combined.
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor is in the final group to tee off in Monday's round, beginning from the 10th tee at 1:10 p.m. CT in pairings with golfers from Virginia and Auburn. May is up first at 1:10, and he'll be followed by Bailey (1:20), Shattuck (1:30), Dossey (1:40) and Perrine (1:50). Golf Channel will televise Monday's round from 3-7 p.m. CT. The top eight teams after Monday's round advance to match play to determine the national champion. Follow @BaylorMGolf on Twitter and Facebook for updates throughout the season.
