March 11, 2011
Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters Results in PDF Format 
LAS VEGAS - Windy course conditions led to high numbers Friday for Baylor as the men's golf team is tied for 12th after 18 holes at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters. Baylor is tied with No. 14 Georgia at 17-over 305 in a tournament field laden with 13 top-50 teams.
No. 11 Texas A&M owns a 12-stroke lead after posting the only sub-par round of the day at 8-under 280. No. 28 Arizona State is second at 4-over 292, followed by a four-way tie for third place between No. 12 Texas, No. 5 Georgia Tech, No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 23 Cal at 6-over 294. Only 10 golfers carded sub-par first rounds, including four from the Big 12. Texas A&M's Jordan Russell is in first at 8-under 64, followed by Oklahoma State's Morgan Hoffmann (3-under 69), Texas A&M's Conrad Shindler (3-under 69) and Texas' Dylan Frittelli (2-under 70).
"When we started, we had some wind in the beginning, but then it picked up," head coach Greg Priest said. "The back nine at Southern Highlands is the hard side and, unfortunately, we had some tough things happen to us there."
On the back nine, Baylor committed nine bogeys, six double-bogeys and one triple-bogey. Collectively, the Bears shot 20-over-par on the back side at Southern Highlands. By contrast, Baylor was only 9-over-par on the front nine.
"We took one to the gut right off the bat," Priest said. "When we got to the front side, we didn't play great, but we battled and hung in there. We just couldn't recover from the start on the back nine."
Sophomores Jerry Ruiz and Ryan O'Rear are tied for 25th at 3-over 75. After both carded back nine scores above par, O'Rear and Ruiz shot 2-under- and even-par, respectively, on the front nine. Cody Paladino is one stroke behind Ruiz and O'Rear at 4-over 76, good for a 36th-place tie. Paladino drained an eagle on the par-5 No. 3 before three straight bogeys to wrap up the front nine.
Baylor's top two scorers entering the weekend, Joakim Mikkelsen (7-over 79) and Lorenzo Scotto (12-over 84), finished the first round in 59th and 74th places, respectively.
"With a course like this, you will get comfortable the more times you play it," Priest said. "It's windy, the rough's up and the greens are fast. We just have to play better golf; it's there for us. We have 36 holes left to make up six strokes (for the top seven) and anything is possible."
Play continues Saturday with the second round of the Southern Highlands College Masters teeing off at 10 a.m. CST. Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com.
