Baylor
NCAA Championship - Stroke Play
Women's Golf Jumps to 10th Place at NCAA Championship
5/20/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
NCAA Championship Day Three Results and Statistics 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
Jay Goble's consistent message after Baylor's disastrous opening round at the NCAA Championship in Oklahoma City was for his players to just hang in there, keep fighting and try to move back up the leader board.
When last place is a lot closer than the cut line, that's easier said than done.
But, that's exactly what the Baylor women did, miraculously moving up 11 spots over the last two days and shooting 1-under-par 287 on Sunday to qualify for the final round of stroke play and put themselves in position for another match-play appearance.
"What I said to them (after Friday's round of 25-over 313) and I reiterated to them the last couple days is we can continue to creep up this leader board," said Goble, whose team is now in 10th place at 31-over 895, eight shots above the 15-team cut line and just four strokes behind eighth-place Kent State (27-over 891).
"This is a hard course where things can change really quickly. I said if we continue to just move up the leader board a little bit the next couple days, we're going to be fine. Man, the last two days, they have played so good! For us to be 6-over par the last two rounds is pretty awesome."
Baylor's 21 birdies in Sunday's third round are the most in any round by any of the 24 teams, and the Bears' 1-under 287 was the second-best round of the day (Alabama shot 4-under 284) and 26 strokes better than Friday's opening-round score on the difficult Karsten Creek Golf Club layout.
"To not only make this next round but to be four shots out of the low eight, come on? That's some storybook stuff," Goble said. "They are fighters, and they don't get down on themselves too much. We preach it all year long, but it's easier said than done, to fight for every shot and fight till the end. . . . They hit one shot at a time and didn't let the last one affect them, and they played with confidence and conviction. It was a special day."
Freshman Gurleen Kaur birdied three of the last five holes and tied for the second-best round of the day at 3-under 69, moving up 27 spots to a tie for 17th at 3-over 219.
Goble called Kaur's finish "stupid good."
"I'm pretty blown away by Gurleen," he said. "The fact that she's a first-semester freshman, you would never know it. She goes out there and plays like a veteran that doesn't care when she makes a bogey and just comes back with a birdie and comes back stronger than ever. She's a fighter, and man she can putt and chip. It's awesome, she's fun to watch."
With a string of three straight birdies, freshman Diane Baillieux overcame a pair of double bogeys to shoot even-par 72 and move up to a tie for 62nd in the 130-player field.
"The coolest thing is if you look at when she made a double, she was making birdies afterward," Goble said. "Which that's even harder to do, especially when you're an emotional person like she is. She can hit the emotional roller coaster as hard as anybody. For her to be able to kind of suck it up and play good after she makes a double bogey, it just shows a lot about her character. She's Just got it."
Senior Amy Lee sank three birdies on her second nine and posted her second straight round of even-par 72 to tie for 24th at 4-over 220. Junior Maria Vesga and sophomore Fiona Liddell had matching rounds of 2-over 74 and are 57th and 72nd, respectively. Adding in the fifth player, Baylor (1-over) actually shot better than top-ranked Alabama (2-over).
"Everybody's out there grinding, and we know what we needed to do," Goble said. "The thing about having such a bad round (Friday) is that you know you have to buckle down and you know you have to grind this day out. It was probably a blessing in disguise, the fact that we knew we had to grind it out to even get to this position. They just put their heads down and went to work."
Alabama, the only other team to break par in Sunday's round, is the 54-hole leader at 2-under-par 862. Third-ranked UCLA (6-over 870) is eight shots back, followed by ninth-ranked Arizona (880), 13th-ranked Northwestern (882) and No. 6 USC (885).
Baylor rounds out a second 10 that includes sixth-ranked Duke (889), No. 5 Stanford (890), No. 16 Kent State (891) and No. 21 Florida State (894). The other qualifiers were second-ranked Arkansas (897), No. 7 Furman (899), eighth-ranked Texas (900), No. 15 Washington (902) and 25th-ranked Louisville (903), which advanced with a tiebreaker edge over Auburn, defending national champion Arizona State and Wake Forest.
The Bears will be paired with Arkansas and Furman for Monday's final round of stroke play with tee times starting at 12:20 p.m. off the 10th tee. Match play begins Tuesday, with the championship final on Wednesday.
"I have a good feeling," Goble said. "They're playing like the team I know, and they're playing like the team they are. They're playing their games, which is fun to watch. You love to see it at the end of the year like this. As a whole, I think they're playing some of their best golf right now. It's just great timing. I can't wait to get on the golf course and get out there with them."
Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com, with the Golf Channel providing live coverage starting at 4 p.m.
THE RUNDOWN
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Baylor women's golf needed to move up at least one spot on the leaderboard to extend its run at the 2018 NCAA Championship, and the Bears easily cleared that hurdle, jumping six spots into 10th place after shooting 1-under-par 287 in Sunday's third round at Karsten Creek Golf Club.
The 26th-ranked Bears recorded the second-best round of the day out of 24 teams in the field, topped only by No. 1-ranked Alabama's 4-under 284. The field was narrowed to 15 teams following the round, and those teams will compete in Monday's final round of stroke play, after which the top eight teams will advance to match play to determine the national champion. Golf Channel will televise the Championship beginning Monday at 4 p.m. CT.
Baylor (+31) enters Monday's final round just four shots back of eighth place No. 16 Kent State (+27), five shots back of seventh place No. 5 Stanford (+26) and six shots back of sixth place No. 4 Duke (+25). No. 1 Alabama (-2) leads, followed by No. 3 UCLA (+6) in second place, No. 9 Arizona (+16) in third place, No. 13 Northwestern (+18) in fourth place and No. 6 USC (+21) rounding out the top five.
No. 21 Florida State (+30) is in ninth place, one shot in front of the Bears. BU is ahead of No. 2 Arkansas (+33), No. 7 Furman (+35), No. 8 Texas (+36), No. 15 Washington (+38) and No. 25 Louisville (+39).
The Bears earned head-to-head wins over the nine teams cut from the field, including No. 19 Auburn (+39), defending national champion No. 10 Arizona State (+39), No. 18 Wake Forest (+39), No. 28 Colorado (+40), No. 20 Oklahoma (+41), No. 12 Florida (+45), No. 27 Virginia (+50), No. 37 Ohio State (+62) and No. 34 Ole Miss (+64).
Baylor's 1-under-par 287 on Sunday was the lowest score in program history out of 18 all-time rounds at NCAA Championships, beating the 288 carded in the fourth round of the 2015 Championship at The Concession in Bradenton, Fla.
Baylor was led by freshman Gurleen Kaur, who carded seven birdies on her way to a 3-under 69, which was the third-best NCAA Championship individual round in program history. Kaur was even through 13 holes before finishing with birdies on Nos. 5, 7 and 9 to move up 27 spots into a tie for 17th place in the individual standings at 3-over 219.
Senior Amy Lee punctuated her round with a birdie on her final hole, No. 9, to finish at even-par 72 for a second straight round and move up six spots into a tie for 24th place at 4-over 220. Freshman Diane Baillieux had three birdies in a row on Nos. 17, 18 and 1 on her way to an even-par 72, which jumped her 41 spots into a tie for 62nd place at 14-over 230.
Junior Maria Vesga and sophomore Fiona Liddell posted matching rounds of 2-over 74. Vesga was 3-over through 14 holes, but she made a birdie on No. 6 before finishing with three consecutive pars to climb 20 spots into 57th place at 12-over 228. Liddell started with three birdies on her first six holes and finished with a birdie on No. 9 to jump 34 spots into a tie for 72nd place at 17-over 233.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor's 287 was the program's best score in 18 all-time NCAA Championship rounds.
• BU's 287 was the program's sixth-best round in an NCAA Tournament, trailing five Regional rounds.
• Baylor made 21 birdies on Sunday, more than five times as many as the first round (four) and nearly double the total from Saturday's second round (12).
• Baylor is tied for third in the 24-team field in par-3 scoring at 7-over 3.12, tied for seventh in par-4 scoring at 46-over 4.31 and tied for ninth in par-5 scoring at 3-under 4.95.
• BU is now eighth in the field with 37 birdies over three rounds, up from 24th out of 24 teams with four birdies following the first round.
• The Bears are tied for 11th in the field with 157 pars.
• Amy Lee is tied for fifth in the 132-player field in par-3 scoring at 2-under 2.83 and tied for 17th in par-5 scoring at 3-under 4.75.
• Diane Baillieux is tied for eighth in par-5 scoring at 4-under 4.67.
• Gurleen Kaur and Maria Vesga are tied for 23rd in par-3 scoring at 1-over 3.08.
• Kaur is tied for fourth in the field with 13 birdies.
• Vesga has a team-high 34 pars across 54 holes, while Fiona Liddell and Lee have 33 pars apiece.
STAT OF THE DAY
7 -- Freshman Gurleen Kaur posted seven birdies in Sunday's third round, tying Stanford's Albane Valenzuela for most birdies made in the 132-player field. Kaur shot 3-under 69, which was the third-best NCAA Championship round in program history behind only Hayley Davis' rounds of 65 and 68 at the 2014 Championship. Kaur made birdies on Nos. 14, 17, 18, 3, 5, 7 and 9. Her birdie on No. 17 was one of only 22 made on that hole in 396 attempts during the Championship, making it the least-birdied hole.
TOP QUOTE I
"It was pretty epic out there," head coach Jay Goble said. "Two days ago, when we had that bad round, it was really hard to take because it was very uncharacteristic of what we've been doing all year. Especially uncharacteristic of the last month and a half when we've been playing better."
TOP QUOTE II
"I'm pretty blown away by Gurleen (Kaur)," Goble said. "The fact that she's a first-semester freshman, you would never know it. She goes out there and she plays like a veteran that doesn't care when she makes a bogey and just comes back with a birdie and comes back stronger than ever. She's a fighter, and man she can putt and chip. It's just awesome. She's fun to watch."
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor is paired with Arkansas and Fordham for Monday's fourth round of stroke play, and those groups will begin from the 10th tee at 12:20 p.m. CT. Liddell is up first at 12:20 p.m., followed by Baillieux at 12:30 p.m., Vesga at 12:40 p.m., Lee at 12:50 p.m. and Kaur at 1:00 p.m. The top eight teams after Monday's round advance to match play to determine the national champion. Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com. Follow @BaylorWGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the season.
Players Mentioned
