MGOLF Drops Opening Match of Big 12 Match Play

HOCKLEY, Texas – Baylor men's golf dropped its opening match of the 2022 Big 12 Match Play Championship 5-1, on Monday, against No. 17 Oklahoma State.

Johnny Keefer secured BU's victory with a 3&2 win over Oklahoma State's Dillon Stewart.

The Bears had two other matches that went at least 17 holes as Bo Jin nipped Jonas Appel 2&1 and John Wild beat Zach Heffernan 1-up on the final hole to secure the match for the Cowboys.

THE RUNDOWN
Starting on the 16^th hole, Keefer took an early 1-up lead with a par to open the round. From there, he would never relinquish the lead, pushing it to 3-up through nine holes before closing out the match with a win at No. 13.

Heffernan fell 2-down through four holes but would battle his way back with wins at Nos. 3, 6, 8 and 10 to eventually take a 1-up lead through 15 holes. A win by Wild at 12 evened the match, before he closed things out with a win at No. 14.

Appel made his match play debut on Monday and took an early 1-up lead through three holes, thanks to a birdie at No. 17. Jin fought back with a birdie at No. 18 to even the match and took the lead with a win at No. 4. Appel would even things up again with a birdie at No. 8 before two Jin birdies over the next three holes pushed his lead to 2-up, where the match would end at No. 13.

Luke Dossey opened his round at No. 16 and played OSU's Hazen Newman even through four holes. Newman would then win the next two holes to take a 2-up lead. Dossey would get one back as the two traded wins at Nos. 6-9, but Dossey dropped No. 10 to fall 3-down with five holes to play. The match ended two holes later 3&2.

Tyler Isenhart fell 4&2 to OSU's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. The two traded wins through the first five holes and were tied through six holes. Isenhart took his first lead of the day with a birdie at No. 2. Neergaard-Peterson wrestled back the lead with three-straight wins at Nos. 4-6. Isenhart dropped another hole at No. 11, closing out the match at 4&2.

Trey Bosco fell 4&3 against Jonas Baumgartner. Baumgartner took the lead on the opening hole at No. 14, pushing it to 2-up after three. Bosco would battle back to 1-down with six holes to play, but Baumgartner closed him out with wins at Nos. 8, 9 and 10.

HIGHLIGHTS

Johnny Keefer never trailed in his match.
Keefer has won or tied eight of his last 10 match play matches.
Five of Baylor's six players led at some point during the match
After making the Match Play at the US Amateur in 2021 and 2022, Freshman Jonas Appel made his collegiate-match play debut.

STAT OF THE DAY
12 – Johnny Keefer secured the 12^th match-play point of his career. In four matches against Oklahoma State, Keefer improved to 3-1.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will compete in the Big 12 Match Play Oct. 17-19 at the Golf Club at Houston Oaks in Hockley, Texas. For more information on Baylor Men's Golf, follow @BaylorMGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

—BaylorBears.com—