May 29, 2017
NCAA Championships Round Four Results and Statistics 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹On a day when Baylor junior golfer Matthew Perrine "shot his worst round of the year," coach Mike McGraw said, sophomore Garrett May "quite frankly, played the round of the year."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹May had three birdies and eagled the par-4 sixth, when he holed out from a greenside bunker, to shoot 1-over-par 73 in the blustery conditions at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., helping Baylor survive a second cut and advance to match play at the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"If he doesn't show up today, or he plays like most of the field played today, we don't make it," McGraw said.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹As it was, the Bears had to sweat it out down the stretch, shooting a collective 5-over on the last three holes. But, the 16-over-par 304 in Monday's final round of stroke play was good enough for Baylor to remain tied for seventh with UNLV at 7-over (1,159), with the top eight advancing to match play.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"I was hoping we would get it, and we got it," said McGraw, who called the windy conditions a "separator." "When you go out and shoot 73, 75, 77, 79, and you don't lose a spot, you know the conditions were tough. It was definitely a tough day."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Fourth-ranked Vanderbilt won the stroke play portion of the tournament at 13-under (1,139) and was one of just four teams that beat Baylor's score in Monday's round, shooting 5-over 293. Oklahoma was second at 1-under, followed by Illinois (2-over), Oklahoma State (3-over), Oregon and Southern Cal (6-over) and Baylor and UNLV (7-over).
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Seeded seventh, Baylor will face Oklahoma in the head-to-head match play, with tee times beginning at 7 a.m.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"It's a whole game, it's all brand new now," said McGraw, who's coaching a team in match play for the fifth time in the nine-year history of the format. "It doesn't matter what we shot, doesn't matter what our season record is. None of that stuff matters. I think our guys are really excited about playing the Sooners, too, because we know them and we've played a lot of golf against them."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Baylor is 1-2 against OU this year, beating the Sooners at the NCAA Stanford Regional after finishing a spot behind them at both The Maxwell and the Big 12 Championship.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"I love the head-to-head competition," McGraw said. "You know that your only job tomorrow is to go out and get one point. That's your job, just go get it."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹If there was one shot that proved to be the difference, it was May holing the bunker shot at No. 6 for an eagle.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"They moved the tee box up 45 yards today, so they were kind of enticing you to try to drive the green," McGraw said. "Braden (Bailey) didn't feel good about it, so we just a 3-iron out in the middle of the fairway. I noticed Garrett had hit a drive, and I couldn't really figure out where it went. But, it went in a greenside bunker, and he holed the bunker shot. That's the best clutch golf he's played all year."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Walking all day with Bailey, who turned in a 3-over 75, McGraw said he asked the sophomore golfer if he wanted to know where the team stood going into the last couple holes. Bailey had checked out a scoreboard a few holes back and knew that things were tight.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Instead of maybe tightening up or fretting, Bailey strung together three straight pars and moved up to a tie for 56th at 9-over 297.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Freshman Cooper Dossey might have been on the opposite end of that emotional scale.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"When I was on the 18 green, I looked over and saw Cooper Dossey, and he just had a really stressed look on his face," McGraw said. "I walked over and asked, `Cooper, is everything all right?' And he goes, `Oh, it's not. I just went bogey, triple (on Nos. 6 and 7), but my score doesn't count, though, right?' He made a great seven-footer (par putt) on 8, then he made a fantastic driver and 8-iron to about 12 feet below the hole and two-putted that. That was just really clutch, actually."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Rounding out the Baylor scores, senior Hunter Shattuck shot 5-over 77, Dossey came in at 7-over 79 and Perrine bogeyed the last hole to finish at 8-over 80.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Baylor and UNLV were just two shots above the cut line, with LSU ninth at 9-over. Paired with Baylor, Virginia and Auburn were next at 10-over and 12-over, respectively. Texas, the fourth Big 12 team to survive the original cut to the top 15, finished 12th at 14-over.
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹McGraw said Oklahoma coach Ryan Hibble is one of the best in the country, making it to the NCAA Championships for the seventh year in a row with a team full of "meat-and-potato" kids."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹"Both teams are pretty down-to-earth, kind of grinding, competitive," he said. "We're pretty similar in that regard."
ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¹Golf Channel coverage begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday, with live scoring available at www.golfstat.com. In the other quarterfinals, Vanderbilt is matched against UNLV, Oklahoma State takes on Southern Cal and Illinois goes up against USC.
THE RUNDOWN
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. -- Baylor men's golf earned one of eight spots in NCAA Championships match play by finishing tied for seventh place following four rounds of stroke play at Rich Harvest Farms. The Bears carded a 16-over-par 304 on Monday to finish at 7-over 1159, two strokes ahead of the cut to advance to match play for the first time in program history.
No. 5-ranked Baylor advances to face No. 17 Oklahoma in the quarterfinals at 7 a.m. CT Tuesday. OU (-1) finished second in stroke play, while Baylor (+7) earned the No. 7 seed by virtue of a scorecard tiebreaker against No. 16 UNLV (+7). The Bears' non-counting scores across all four rounds totaled +19, while UNLV's non-counting scores totaled +21.
UNLV faces No. 4-ranked Vanderbilt (-13), which earned the No. 1 seed by leading stroke play by 12 shots. No. 8 Illinois (+2) finished in third place and takes on No. 1 USC (+6), and No. 3 Oklahoma State (+3) took fourth and faces No. 9 Oregon (+6).
By advancing to eight-team match play, the Bears secured the best NCAA Championships finish in program history, besting the tie for ninth place in 1960. Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State combined to give the Big 12 Conference three of the remaining eight teams, while the Pac-12 is the only other conference with multiple teams remaining.
Strong winds on Monday led to higher scores than any of the first three rounds, and the Bears' 16-over tied the fifth-best round in the 15-team field. Baylor started from the 10th tee and had a tough start, carding a triple bogey, four double bogeys and 12 bogeys against just nine birdies. BU improved by nine pars in the second half of the round, posting one triple bogey, one double bogey, 11 bogeys and four birdies.
Sophomore Garrett May was first off the tee and carded the Bears' best round of the day at 1-over 73, including birdies on Nos. 11, 18 and 2, as well as a chip-in eagle from the sand on the par-4 sixth hole. May finished tied for 56th place individually with a 72-hole total of 9-over 297.
Sophomore Braden Bailey was next off the tee and posted Baylor's second-best round at 3-over 75 to finish tied for 56th place at 9-over 297. He started 4-over through six holes, then rebounded with two birdies, one bogey and nine pars over his final 12 holes. As the Bears creeped closer to the cut line, Bailey came up big with seven pars and one birdie over his final eight holes. He carded birdies on Nos. 14, 18 and 6.
Senior Hunter Shattuck teed off third and shot 5-over 77 to finish tied for 28th place at 2-over 290. He began with a triple bogey on No. 10, but shot just 2-over the rest of the way with birdies on Nos. 12, 15 and 3.
Freshman Cooper Dossey was fourth off the tee and carded a 7-over 79 to finish tied for 35th place at 4-over 292. He took the turn at 4-over and played his first six holes after the turn at 1-under, but a bogey on No. 6 was followed by a triple bogey on No. 7. His pars on Nos. 8 and 9 clinched Baylor's match play berth.
Junior Matthew Perrine anchored the Bears' lineup in the final round and shot 8-over 80 to finish tied for 28th place at 2-over 290. His lone birdie of the day came on No. 17, but he played the back-nine at 3-over, which was crucial as his score was the difference between Baylor earning the No. 7 or No. 8 seed in match play.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Baylor clinched the best NCAA Championships finish in program history. BU's best previous finish was a tie for ninth place at the 1960 Championships.
- Baylor led the 30-team field in par-4 scoring at 25-over 4.13, tied for 10th in par-4 scoring at 16-over 3.20 and ranked 17th in par-5 scoring at 15-under 4.81.
- Baylor's 67 birdies tied for fifth-most in the field, and the Bears also tied for fifth with 213 pars.
- Cooper Dossey tied for sixth in the 156-player field with 47 pars, tied for ninth in par-3 scoring at even-par 3.00, tied for ninth in par-4 scoring at 2-over 4.05.
- Matthew Perrine tied for ninth in par-3 scoring at even-par 3.00.
- Garrett May tied for 13th in par-5 scoring at 7-under 4.56.
- Hunter Shattuck tied for eighth with 17 birdies and tied for 17th in par-3 scoring at 1-over 3.06.
- Braden Bailey tied for 15th with 45 pars and tied for 17th in par-4 scoring at 4-over 4.10.
- May's eagle on the par-4, 376-yard 6th hole was one of three eagles made on the hole during the 72-hole tournament.
- Perrine's second-round eagle on the par-5, 562-yard seventh hole was one of six eagles made on the hole during the tournament.
STAT OF THE DAY
2 -- the number of schools to have both men's and women's golf programs advance to eight-team NCAA Championships match play -- Baylor and USC. Three Baylor teams have earned spots among the NCAA's final eight teams in their respective sports over the past eight days -- women's golf advanced to NCAA Championships match play on May 22, softball advanced to the Women's College World Series on May 28, and men's golf earned a spot in NCAA Championships match play on May 29.
TOP QUOTE I
Head coach Mike McGraw on the windy conditions in the final round of play ...
"We're from Texas. We have wind in Texas. You'd think we would've handled it better. But honestly, you put wind and nerves and firm fast greens together it's just a cataclysmic combination and it's great. It made for some pretty good drama and it was really exciting. We came here with the goal in mind of making match play because it's all fair game. Everybody's even again now. The guys did that, they're really excited about it so, regardless of the round today, you accomplished what you were supposed to do."
TOP QUOTE II
McGraw on how the mindset changes ...
"It is a different animal. You get a fresh new start and you get a fresh new start every hole. I think it will really benefit one of my players. I'm not going to say which one, but it will definitely benefit one of our players who can use a fresh new start. I think it will help him. It's just a good mindset to play with than stroke play. That's gone, here I go."
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS MATCH PLAY
[1] No. 4 Vanderbilt vs. [8] No. 16 UNLV
[2] No. 17 Oklahoma vs. [7] No. 5 Baylor
[3] No. 8 Illinois vs. [6] No. 1 USC
[4] No. 3 Oklahoma State vs. [5] No. 9 Oregon
BAYLOR vs. OKLAHOMA QUARTERFINAL PAIRINGS
7:00 a.m. -- Blaine Hale (OU) vs. No. 36 Cooper Dossey (BU)
7:10 a.m. -- No. 58 Max McGreevy (OU) vs. No. 62 Braden Bailey (BU)
7:20 a.m. -- Rylee Reinertson (OU) vs. No. 95 Garrett May (BU)
7:30 a.m. -- No. 48 Grant Hirschman (OU) vs. No. 90 Hunter Shattuck (BU)
7:40 a.m. -- Brad Dalke (OU) vs. No. 55 Matthew Perrine (BU)
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor faces Oklahoma in the NCAA Championships quarterfinals match. The teams tee off at 7 a.m. CT Tuesday, with Dossey up first for the Bears. He'll be followed by Bailey (7:10), May (7:20), Shattuck (7:30) and Perrine (7:40). Golf Channel coverage begins at 10 a.m. CT. The winner of the Baylor-Oklahoma match faces the winner of Illinois vs. USC in a semifinal match at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the championship match is at 2:10 p.m. Wednesday. Follow @BaylorMGolf on Twitter and Facebook for updates throughout the season.
