NCAA Athens Regional Final Results and Statistics

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Having missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships by one shot in 2013 and two strokes the next year, Baylor women's golf coach Jay Goble knows "it's an awful feeling to know that you've got to wait another year to get a crack at it."

The Lady Bears will get a "crack at it" after hanging on to finish fourth at the NCAA Athens Regional and qualify for the NCAA Championships that start next Friday, May 19, at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

In second place going into Wednesday's final round at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga., Baylor struggled, shooting 11-over-par 299 and falling two spots to finish fourth in the 18-team tournament at 13-over 877. But, the Lady Bears were still 12 shots ahead of the cut line, with the top six teams advancing to the national tournament.

"Obviously, the day we had yesterday kind of set us up to where we had a little leeway to not play as well," Baylor coach Jay Goble said of Tuesday's tournament-low round of 6-under-par 282. "But, the goal is to finish top six so you get to the national championship. With 72 teams competing in regionals for 24 spots, it's basically equivalent to making the Sweet 16 in basketball. We made it to the cream of the crop. The best teams in college golf are going to play next week, and I'm excited that we're going to be there."

Baylor earned its third berth to the NCAA Championships in six years under Goble and fourth overall, including a runner-up finish two years ago. Out of 258 Division I teams, Baylor is one of only 24 schools left to compete for the national championship.

"There's so much more pressure in a regional," Goble said. "(With) nationals, once you get there you can kind of freewheel it. Regionals, you know it's three rounds. And if you don't make it through those three rounds, you're going home for a year and you're not going to have another chance at it for 365 days. That's an awful feeling. . . . For us to survive at this place shows that we have a good team and we have a team that could do some damage next week. I wholeheartedly believe that."

Redshirt sophomore Dylan Kim birdied the last hole to shoot 1-over 73 and moved up to a tie for 17th at 3-over 219. Junior Amy Lee started the day in contention for medalist honors, but had four bogeys and a double-bogey in a round of 5-over 77 that left her tied for 15th at 2-over 218.

Subbed in this week as the No. 5 golfer after missing the Big 12 Championship, senior Maggie Beth Byers shot 3-over 75 and finished tied for 28th at 6-over 222, while sophomore Maria Vesga and freshman Fiona Liddell tied for 43rd at 10-over 226.

"(Byers) was honestly our key," said Goble, who walked all 54 holes with his lone senior. "She was 1 or 2-over every day starting out. And for her to hold on and grind out pars and grind out rounds, that's not easy to do, especially under this pressure. I was really impressed with everything she did this week. It was really solid."

Third-ranked Alabama shot 4-under 284 in the final round and won the region championship with a 7-under 857 total, followed by Northwestern (7-over, 871), Michigan State (8-over, 872), Baylor (13-over, 877), Clemson (20-over, 884) and North Carolina (22-over, 886). The host Georgia team missed the cut by three strokes, finishing seventh at 25-over 889.

"From our site, I really feel like great teams made it through," Goble said. "We had to survive some crazy greens. There's a few holes on this golf course that kind of mess with your head a little bit. On the 16th hole, I had Maggie chip out sideways. She couldn't even chip at the hole. That doesn't happen on a lot of courses where you can't even go at the hole when you're only 50 feet away."

Out of the four regional sites, 11 of the top-25 teams failed to advance, including No. 2 UCLA, eighth-ranked Georgia and No. 14 Arizona.

At the NCAA Championships, the top 15 teams through 54 holes will advance to the final round of stroke play, with the top eight then moving on to match play.

"You've got to make it to that last day, or you're not going to have a chance," Goble said. "We're going to go out with basically the same game plan we had this week. That's to stay patient, hit golf shots as well as you can hit them and move forward."

THE RUNDOWN
ATHENS, Ga. -- Baylor women's golf claimed the fourth NCAA Championships berth in program history by taking fourth place at the Athens Regional. BU shot 11-over-par 299 in Wednesday's final round, finishing at 13-over 872, 12 strokes ahead of the six-team cut to earn a Championships bid.

Baylor (+13), the No. 5 seed in the Athens Regional, joined No. 1 seed Alabama (-7), No. 3 seed Northwestern (+7), No. 14 seed Michigan State (+8), No. 10 seed Clemson (+20) and No. 9 seed North Carolina (+22) in advancing to the Championships.

No. 2 seed and Regional host Georgia (+25) was the first team out, followed by No. 8 Tennessee (+26), No. 11 Augusta (+27), No. 4 Arizona (+30), No. 16 Princeton (+33), No. 12 Auburn (+36), No. 13 Kansas State (+46), No. 7 UCF (+49), No. 6 Wake Forest (+55), No. 17 North Florida (+56), No. 15 Troy (+59) and No. 18 Quinnipiac (+114).

Baylor's NCAA Championships berth is the fourth in program history and the third in six years under head coach Jay Goble. BU previously qualified for the Championships in 2004 (t-19th), 2012 (t-16th) and 2015 (second). The fourth-place finish in Athens was Baylor's second-best Regional finish, trailing only the 2015 NCAA San Antonio Regional tournament title.

Big 12 Player of the Year Amy Lee shot 5-over 77 on Wednesday to finish tied for 15th place at 2-over 218. Big 12 individual champion Dylan Kim had BU's best round of the day with a 1-over 73, and she finished tied for 17th place at 3-over 219. Maggie Beth Byers tied for 28th place at 6-over 222, while Maria Vesga and Fiona Liddell tied for 43rd place at 10-over 226. Byers carded a final-round 3-over 75, Vesga shot 2-over 74 and Liddell shot 7-over 79.

HIGHLIGHTS
- Baylor earned the fourth NCAA Championships appearance in program history -- BU's previous appearances were in 2004 (t-19th), 2012 (t-16th) and 2015 (second).
- Baylor's fourth-place finish was the second-best in an NCAA Regional in program history -- the only better finish came when BU won the 2015 NCAA San Antonio Regional.
- BU has now earned NCAA Championships berths in three of head coach Jay Goble's six seasons.
- BU's 54-hole total of 13-over 877 was the second-best NCAA Tournament score in program history, trailing only the 22-under 842 at the 2015 San Antonio Regional.
- Baylor finished third in the 18-team field in par-3 scoring at 16-over 3.27, fourth in par-4 scoring at 21-over 4.14 and seventh in par-5 scoring at 6-under 4.90.
- Baylor's 42 birdies tied for second-most in the tournament.
- Dylan Kim tied for sixth in the 96-player field in par-5 scoring at 4-under 4.67.
- Amy Lee tied for 15th in par-4 scoring at 2-over 4.07.
- Maria Vesga and Lee tied for 14th in par-3 scoring at 2-over 3.17.
- Kim had a team-high 10 birdies, which tied for 11th-most in the tournament.
- Maggie Beth Byers and Lee each posted nine birdies, tied for 18th-most in the field.

STAT OF THE DAY
6-over-par -- Maggie Beth Byers, the lone senior on the team, returned to the lineup after missing the 2017 Big 12 Championship. She shot 6-over-par 219 for the tournament, which tied for 28th place. She counted all three rounds toward the team score, posting a 1-over 73 on Monday, a 2-over 74 on Tuesday and a 3-over 75 in Wednesday's final round.

TOP QUOTE I
Head coach Jay Goble on the team's performance ...
"Awesome. Mission accomplished. That's what we're trying to do. Just come out here and play solid golf for three days. Today was not our best day, but mission accomplished. We did everything we needed to do. We fought hard all day and we fought hard all week, and they deserve this. It's exciting to move on."

TOP QUOTE II
Goble on the team's strength ...
"Our strength this weekend was just staying patient. This golf course is demanding in a lot of ways, especially around the greens. You need to be in the right spot and putting from the right spot. Of course we had some three putts and missed some greens short side, but we did a great job of staying underneath the hole just trying to give us an opportunity to score well."

TOP QUOTE III
Sophomore Maria Vesga on Wednesday's final round ...
"It felt amazing. I feel like I was more confident today hitting the ball and putting. Definitely the pins were tough still, but it was a great day for the team. I think we're doing really well, just a little more confidence in our games and we'll be great."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor advances to play in the 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships, which runs May 19-24 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. Live scoring is available at www.GolfStat.com. Follow @BaylorWGolf on Twitter and Facebook for updates throughout the season.