MGOLF tied for 12th after first round in Cabo

Sunday, March 2

Los Cabos, Mexico

Baylor

The Cabo Collegiate

MGOLF tied for 12th after first round in Cabo

3/2/2025 4:49:00 PM | Men's Golf

Appel records five birdies, leads Bears at 2-over 73

Jerry Hill Men's Golf
Jerry_hill@baylor.edu

LOS CABOS, Mexico – Sitting in the top five at 1-under about halfway through the opening round, Baylor men's golf struggled in the closing holes and finished up in a tie for 12^th at 15-over 299 on Sunday at the Cabo Collegiate at Twin Dolphin Club.

Jonas Appel, tied for fifth in the field with five birdies, led the way for the Bears and is tied for 27^th overall at 2-over 73 on the par-71 track. Zach Heffernan and Drew Wrightson were tied with Appel before bogeying their final hole and coming in tied for 33^rd at 3-over 74.

Arizona State shot 8-under 276 and has a five-shot lead over Big 12 rival Oklahoma State after 18 holes in the 54-hole tournament, with the Bears just four strokes out of a top-8 spot. The Big 12 is also atop the individual leaderboard, with ASU's Preston Summerhays and OSU's Preston Stout tied at 4-under 67.

THE RUNDOWN
After opening with a double bogey on his opening hole, Appel played the final 17 holes in even par. With birdies on five of the next 10 holes, the junior climbed the leaderboard at 1-under when he made a birdie at the par-3, 178-yard eighth hole. Offsetting another double bogey, he birdied his closing hole, the par-4, 420-yard 15^th.

Heffernan birdied the par-5 16^th after back-to-back pars on his first two holes. The lone senior in the lineup was 1-under through his first 10 holes before bogeys on four of his last eight holes.

Wrightson had a similar round, stringing together eight-straight pars before birdying the par-4, 362-yard fifth hole to get to 1-under. But like Hefferman, he struggled to close, bogeying Nos. 7, 9, 12 and 14 to fall back to 3-over for the round.

Sophomore Davis Ovard started the round with seven-consecutive pars before running into trouble. He bogeyed four of his next seven holes and then had a double bogey and bogey, respectively, at Nos. 15 and 16 to finish up his round at 7-over 78.

Freshman Vincent Stjernfeldt was undone by three double bogeys on a stretch of four holes on the back nine, tying for 64^th with Ovard at 78. Shooting 1-over on the other 14 holes, he posted birdies at No. 5 and the par-4, 466-yard 17^th, his final hole.

HIGHLIGHTS

Baylor had the fourth-most pars in the 14-team field with 56, three behind tournament leader Texas Tech (59).
Jonas Appel is tied for fourth in par-4 scoring at 3.91 (-1).
Wrightson and Heffernan both recorded 13 pars, tied for the eighth-most.
The Bears had two of the nine birdies (Appel and Stjernfeldt) recorded on the par-4 17^th hole, which was the second-hardest hole on the course.

STAT OF THE DAY

5 — Jonas Appel tied for fifth in the 80-player field with five birdies.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mike McGraw on Sunday's opening round — "We were in great shape through nine holes, but had a tough back nine. The course was challenging with the wind today. Clean up a few things, and we will be fine tomorrow."

WHAT'S NEXT
Round 2 of the Cabo Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico, will begin Monday morning with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. The Bears are paired with Texas Tech, Arizona and Vanderbilt and will start on the back nine. For more information on Baylor Men's Golf, follow @BaylorMGolf on X, Instagram and Facebook.

—BaylorBears.com—