Baylor Men’s Golf Begins Season in Minnesota

WACO, Texas – Baylor men’s golf opens its 2019-20 season at the Gopher Invitational, which runs Sunday through Monday on the par-71, 7,368-yard course at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minn.

This will be Baylor’s fifth appearance at the Gopher Invitational, and the Bears have finished top-three in each of their prior trips to Windsong Farm. BU took second place in a 12-team field in 2013, won the title in a 15-team field in 2015, tied for third out of 16 teams in 2015 and took second place in a 16-team field in 2017. Baylor’s 2014 Gopher Invitational win was in their first tournament under head coach Mike McGraw.

Baylor’s lineup for the season opener is led by a pair of seniors with Colin Kober in the No. 1 spot followed by Cooper Dossey. Redshirt junior Travis McInroe is at No. 3, freshman Johnny Keefer is No. 4 and junior Mark Reppe rounds out the lineup at No. 5.

Sunday’s first round tees off at 7:15 a.m. CT, and Baylor players will hit the course at 8:45 a.m. Reppe is up first at 8:45 a.m., followed by Keefer at 8:54 a.m., McInroe at 9:03 a.m., Dossey at 9:12 a.m. and Kober at 9:21 a.m. Teams will continue play for a second round on Sunday, followed a final round on Monday. BU is paired with North Carolina State and Texas A&M for Sunday’s 36 holes, and final round pairings will be based on standings.

Baylor is ranked No. 20 in the GCAA preseason coaches’ poll, which is fifth-best among Big 12 Conference teams behind No. 1 Texas, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 18 Texas Tech.

The Gopher Invitational field is comprised of 13 teams, including Arkansas, No. 20 Baylor, Iowa, Kent State, Marquette, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina State, No. 7 Oklahoma, Purdue, No. 14 Texas A&M, Utah and West Virginia.

Four Baylor players will compete as individuals in a neighboring tournament, the Pioneer Creek Collegiate. Sophomore Brandon Hoff will be joined by freshmen Luke Dossey, Tyler Isenhart and Scout McNealy. Junior Ryan Grider will not compete due to injury.

The Pioneer Creek Collegiate runs Saturday and Sunday at Pioneer Creek Golf Course. Saturday’s first round is a 2 p.m. shotgun start, and Sunday is scheduled for 36 holes. Eight lower-division teams are competing at Pioneer Creek, along with individuals from Baylor, West Virginia, Purdue, Michigan State, Texas A&M, North Carolina State, Marquette, Utah, Kent State, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

McGraw returns for his sixth season leading the program, while assistant coach Ryan Blagg enters his eighth year in Waco. They combined to lead Baylor to a school-record fourth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance last season.

Kober and Dossey enter their fourth years in the program ranked among the best players in school history. Dossey is fourth on Baylor’s all-time list with a 71.94 career stroke average across 94 rounds, trailing only Jimmy Walker (71.55), 2019 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Ryan Baca (71.91) and Kyle Jones (71.93). Kober ranks 11th in school history with a 73.05 stroke average across 57 rounds.

Kober and Dossey also recorded the team’s two best stroke averages a season ago. Dossey led the team at 72.21, which was the 20th-best single-season mark in program history, while Kober was just two strokes back at 72.28, the 21st-best single-season mark by a Baylor player.

Reppe is back as a junior after appearing in six tournaments last season. He helped the Bears win the Big 12 Match Play Championship in October and served as the team’s alternate throughout postseason play, making an appearance in the third round at the Big 12 Championship in April.

Grider played in all 11 tournaments as a sophomore last season and appeared in the lineup 10 teams. He posted a 73.43 stroke average across 28 rounds, and including 10 rounds at par or better.

Both McInroe and Hoff appeared in four tournaments as individuals a season ago. McInroe joined Cooper Dossey, Grider and Garrett May to give the Bears four U.S. Amateur qualifiers for the first time in program history this summer. Dossey and McInroe advanced to 64-player match play, where they faced off in a first-round match, with Dossey coming out on top.

Live scoring for both the Gopher Invitational and Pioneer Creek Collegiate is available at www.golfstat.com. Follow @BaylorMGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the season.