Baylor MGOLF Notches a Third-Place Finish at Season-Opening Valero Texas Collegiate

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Sept. 11, 2023

Baylor MGOLF Notches a Third-Place Finish at Season-Opening Valero Texas Collegiate
BU’s Keefer comes up just short of the individual title in a playoff
For more information, contact Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>

SAN ANTONIO – Baylor men’s golf finished third against a talented field at the inaugural Valero Texas Collegiate on Monday at TPC San Antonio.

Florida Gulf Coast’s Joe Sullivan outlasted BU’s Johnny Keefer and TCU’s Gustav Frimodt on the second playoff hole to claim the individual title and a spot in next year’s Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour. Keefer’s tie for second is his best finish since a second place at the 2023 Border Olympics.

With a 4-under 860, the Bears finished just four shots behind TCU and nine shots behind the champion, No. 3 Vanderbilt. BU finished three shots ahead of No. 13 Virginia and five shots in front of No. 10 Oklahoma, which finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

THE RUNDOWN
The overnight leader with TCU’s Frimodt, Keefer started with a couple of bogeys on the front nine at Nos. 3 and 7 before his first birdie at No. 8. He made the turn at 2-over with a bogey at No. 9, but went right to work, blistering the back nine for a third day in a row with a birdie at No. 11. He added another at No. 13, before dropping a shot at No. 15 and falling a shot out of the lead. The San Antonio native made a clutch birdie putt at No. 17, which earned him a spot in a playoff after a par at 18.

Luke Dossey captured his fourth-career top-10 finish with a tie for 10th on Monday. The senior played steady early in the final round and drained a long birdie putt at the par-3 seventh to get into red figures. Dossey gave a pair of shots back at Nos. 9 and 10 but bounced back with a birdie at No. 12 to get back to even for the round and finished his week at 2-under.

Jonas Appel had a strong showing on Monday, carding a 1-under 71 en route to a tie for 38th. The sophomore got hot with the putter early, rolling in birdies at Nos. 2 and 3, before adding another at No. 8 to make the turn with a bogey-free 33. After a tight approach at the 11th, he converted the birdie putt to get to 4-under on the day, but dropped shots at Nos. 13, 14 and 18 to fall back to 1-under.

Zach Heffernan continued his strong play with an even-par 72 to claim a tie for 55th. The Boerne, Texas, native made an early birdie at No. 2 but closed the front nine with bogeys at Nos. 5, 7 and 9 around a birdie at No. 6. The junior completed his inward nine with eight pars and a birdie at 18 to close out a strong finish to the week that saw him climb 16 spots over the final two rounds.

Trey Bosco closed out his run in San Antonio with a 5-over 77 to also finish tied for 55th. After an early birdie at No. 3, Bosco made a double bogey at No. 5 but got right back to even with a birdie at No. 6. A triple at the ninth and a bogey at the 10th dropped him to 4-over, before his third birdie of the day at No. 14. The senior closed out the round with a pair of bogeys at Nos. 16 and 18.

Freshman Davis Ovard closed out his collegiate debut in a tie for 51st on the heels of a 6-over 78 on Monday. The freshman fell to 4-over through four holes before his first birdie of the day at No. 6. A bogey at No. 8 put him at 4-over at the turn, then a bogeys at Nos. 12 and 14 were the lone blemishes on his inward half.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   Baylor finished 3-1 against Top 25 teams in the field with head-to-head wins over No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 13 Virginia and No. 20 Georgia.
  *   With his ninth career top-5 finish, Johnny Keefer moves into a tie with Braden Bailey for the seventh-most in program history.
  *   With 15 career top-10s, Keefer ties Matthew Perrine for the eighth-most in program history.
  *   Keefer, a San Antonio native, has now played five of his six career collegiate rounds at par or better at TPC San Antonio.
  *   The senior played the back nine at 10-under for the week, and led the field with 16 birdies.
  *   Luke Dossey carded his fifth career top-10 finish, and his first since the Border Olympics last February.
  *   Monday marked the second time in his career that Dossey carded three straight rounds at par or better in one event.
  *   Dossey tied for the third-best par-3 scoring average (2.83).
  *   The senior’s 39 pars tied for the second-most in the field this week.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Mike McGraw — “This was a really solid start for our guys this week. It was good being in the thick of things in a tough field. We can definitely build on this performance.”

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will compete at the Fighting Illini Invitational, beginning Friday at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Ill.

For more information on Baylor Men’s Golf, follow @BaylorMGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.



—BaylorBears.com—




Matt Roberts | Associate Director of Athletic Communications (MBB/MGOLF/ WGOLF)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-227-2280
[signature_339785252]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230911/e101d38e/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 14099 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230911/e101d38e/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Valero Texas Collegiate Final Round Stats.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 169607 bytes
Desc: Valero Texas Collegiate Final Round Stats.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230911/e101d38e/attachment-0001.pdf>