Oct. 25, 2016 Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown Final Results 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - When Jay Goble is walking the golf course with his team, he doesn't even want to look at a leader board or know where everyone stands.
But, the Baylor women's golf coach broke his own rule when junior transfer Amy Lee asked him where she stood with two holes left in Tuesday's final round of the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown at Boulder Creek Country Club.
Down by one shot and tied for second, Lee needed birdies on the last two holes to pass Texas' Greta Isabella Voelker and win her first tournament at Baylor and second collegiate title.
"And she was like, `OK, I'm going to do it,''' Goble said.
The USC transfer rolled in an eight-foot birdie on the par-3 17th to move into a tie for the lead. And then on the par-4, 380-yard 18th, which is "probably playing the hardest hole on the golf course," Lee hit her longest drive of the day right down the middle of the fairway, "had about 104 yards in, hits it to three feet and knocks the putt in for birdie-birdie."
Shooting 5-under-par 67 for the day and 9-under 135 for the tournament, Lee won medalist honors and helped the 26th-ranked Baylor women win their first tournament title since the 2015 NCAA Regional at San Antonio and ninth in six years under Goble.
"When Amy started at USC, she was the second-ranked player in the world in her class," Goble said. "Potential just oozes off of her. She is really, really good at golf. . . . When she's confident, watch out, because when she's confident, you just can't beat her."
The same could be said for this Baylor team. After "not playing up to our potential" in the first three tournaments of the fall, the Bears carded 41 birdies and shot 25-under 551 in a tournament that was shortened to 36 holes because of Monday's round being canceled due to lightning.
UNLV was second, eight strokes back at 17-under 559, followed by Idaho (16-under) and 14th-ranked Texas tied for fourth with San Diego State at 15-under.
"I said before the season, this team is crazy talented. I'd be bold enough to even say it's probably a more talented team than we had two years ago," said Goble, comparing it to the team that finished as the national runner-up in 2015. "I think going out and doing what we did the last two days just proves that we have it in us to be one of the best teams in the country. It's all about doing it at the right time and being prepared and continuing to get ready for postseason next semester."
After an opening-round score of 15-under 273, matching the lowest in program history, the Bears shot 10-under 278 in Tuesday's final round. All five players finished under par, with freshman Evelyn Arguelles tied for sixth at 6-under 138, sophomores Maria Vesga (4-under 140) and Dylan Kim (3-under 141) tied for 15th and 21st, respectively, and freshman Fiona Liddell tied for 36th at 1-under 143.
"Even though it was a course that wasn't super hard, it's still hard to go out and shoot 25-under-par in a golf tournament," Goble said. "And I would say there's not many teams in the country that could go out and shoot 25-under-par in two rounds."
Baylor's 54-hole tournament record is 22-under. The Bears did better than that in 36 holes.
Through the first four tournaments, four players are averaging 72.45 or better, with Kim fifth at 73.27. Coming off a redshirt season, the 2015 All-American is "still struggling to get it all back and play her normal game . . . but she's going to get it," Goble said of Kim.
"I'm not concerned about her playing her best golf right now. You can tell she's getting better. When we get to postseason, she's going to be ready to go."
With such a solid top five, Goble said it "just frees you up to go out and play really well, because you're not so concerned about having to pull somebody up."
The Bears will finish out the fall semester at SMU's Trinity Forest Invitational on Nov. 7-8 at the new Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, home for the PGA's Byron Nelson Invitational starting in 2018.
"I'm pretty sure it's going to be the same lineup," Goble said. "It's going to be pretty hard to change it now."
THE RUNDOWN LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Baylor women's golf won the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown by eight strokes after shooting 10-under-par 278 in Tuesday's final round at Boulder Creek Country Club. The Bears finished the 36-hole tournament at 25-under 551, and
Amy Lee birdied her final two holes to claim her career-first individual title.
The win was the ninth team tournament championship in head coach Jay Goble's six seasons with the Bears and the first since the 2015 NCAA San Antonio Regional. That regional was also the last time a Baylor player won medalist honors, as Hayley Davis claimed the individual title.
Lee shot 5-under 67 on Tuesday to finish the tournament at 9-under 135. She made six birdies, including on each of her final two holes to turn a one-stroke deficit into a one-stroke lead. Freshman Evelyn Arguelles tied for sixth place at 6-under 138 after carding a 2-under 70 on Tuesday.
Maria Vesga tied for 15th place at 4-under 140 following her final round of 2-over 74. Dylan Kim tied for 21st place at 3-under 141, including a final round of 2-under 70, and Fiona Liddell tied for 36th place at 1-under 143 with a final round 1-under 71. Giovana Maymon, who was playing as an individual, tied for 93rd place at 8-over 152.
Baylor (-25) topped a 19-team field, recording wins over UNLV (-17), Idaho (-16), Texas (-15), San Diego State (-15), Vanderbilt (-14), San Jose State (-11), UC Riverside (-7), Missouri (-4), Fresno State (-3), Gonzaga (+1), Indiana (+1), Nevada (+2), Colorado State (+3), Nebraska (+6), New Mexico (+7), New Mexico State (+13), Long Beach State (+17) and UC Irvine (+18).
HIGHLIGHTS
- Baylor's team title was its first since the 2015 NCAA San Antonio Regional.
- Lee became the first Baylor player to win medalist honors since Hayley Davis at the 2015 NCAA San Antonio Regional.
- The tournament win was the ninth in head coach Jay Goble's six seasons at Baylor.
- Baylor led the 19-team field in par-3 scoring at 7-under 2.83 and par-4 scoring at 9-under 3.91. The Bears tied for seventh in par-5 scoring at 7-under 4.82.
- Baylor tied for the tournament lead with 41 birdies and tied for fourth with 124 pars.
- Lee led the 105-player field in par-3 scoring at 5-under 2.38, tied for 12th in par-5 scoring at 3-under 4.62 and tied for 21st in par-4 scoring at 1-under 3.95.
- Arguelles led the field in par-4 scoring at 6-under 3.70, while Liddell tied for 11th at 2-under 3.90.
- Lee tied for the tournament lead with 12 birdies, while Vesga and Arguelles tied for seventh with nine birdies.
- Liddell's 29 pars over 36 holes tied for most in the 105-player field, and Kim tied for eighth with 27 pars.
STAT OF THE DAY
6 -- Amy Lee made six birdies in Tuesday's final round, including on each of her last two holes to turn a one-stroke deficit into a one-stroke lead and the eventual individual title.
TOP QUOTE I
"It was an amazing two days for our team, and I could not be more proud of them" head coach Jay Goble said. "I think we all knew that this team had amazing talent, but it sure was nice to show that when we put it all together we are one of the best teams in the country. I'm very happy for all of them, because they work so hard everyday to be great. It's always fun to see them confident and making birdies."
TOP QUOTE II
"It was great for Amy (Lee) to get her first win as a Bear," Goble said. "She's an amazing player, and to watch her birdie her last two holes for the win was very exciting."
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will play its final tournament of the fall season at the Trinity Forest Invitational, which runs Nov. 7-8 at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. Follow @BaylorWGolf for updates throughout the season.
