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Baylor Men’s Golf Wins Big 12 Match Play Championship

October 5, 2020
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HOCKLEY, Texas – Baylor men’s golf won the 2020 Big 12 Match Play Championship by defeating Oklahoma State in Sunday afternoon’s title match at Golf Club at Houston Oaks. The Bears tied OSU 3-3 in individual matches, but won 9-4 in the hole differential tie breaker.

It was Baylor’s second Big 12 Match Play Championship title in the event’s three-year history, after BU went a perfect 5-0 on its way to winning the inaugural event in 2018. BU again went undefeated with a 5-0 record on its way to a second title in 2020. The Bears started pool play with a win over TCU on Friday morning, then clinched their spot in the title match with wins over Oklahoma and West Virginia on Saturday. Even with the pool title already secured, Baylor defeated Iowa State 3-2-1 on Sunday morning to finish pool play a perfect 4-0.

The title match came down to the final hole, as the Bears put the first three points on the board with wins by Cooper Dossey, Johnny Keefer and Ryan Grider. All three of those Bears won 3&2, with Dossey defeating Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Keefer knocking off Austin Eckroat and Grider beating Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra.

Jonas Baumgaurtner gave OSU its first point with a 2&1 win over Trey Bosco. The Bears needed to halve or win one of the final two matches to clinch the title without going to a tiebreaker, but OSU’s Aman Gupta finished with consecutive birdies to take a 1-up win over Colin Kober, and Brian Stark held on for a 1-up victory over Brandon Hoff, ending the match with a 3-3 tie.

Both Keefer and Dossey led their matches wire-to-wire. Dossey won the first, third and fourth holes, and he didn’t lose a hole until No. 10, but he quickly built the lead back to 3-up with a win on No. 11. After dropping No. 14, Dossey finished off the victory by winning on No. 16 to go 3-up with two remaining. Keefer won the second, fourth, fifth and sixth holes to take an early 4-up lead, and Eckroat couldn’t cut the lead lower than three the rest of the way. The final eight holves of the match were halved, with Keefer matching Eckroat’s birdies on each of the final four holes.

Grider trailed for only one hole in his match vs. Lopez-Chicarra. Grider dropped the second hole, but responded by winning the next five holes to take a 4-up lead. He maintained a multi-hole lead for the rest of the match, finishing off the victory with a win on the 16th hole to go 3-up with two remaining.

Kober won the second-hole to take an early lead against Gupta, but Gupta rebounded to win the fifth, eighth, ninth and 11th holes to take a 3-up lead with seven remaining. Kober answered by winning the 12th, 14th, 15th and 16th holes to take a 1-up lead with two to play, but Gupta birdied the final two holes to claim a 1-up victory.

Bosco won the fifth hole of his match against Baumgartner to take a 1-up lead, but Baumgartner won the ninth, 10th and 11th holes to go 2-up. Bosco kept it close by halving the final six holes, which proved crucial as the title match ended up being decided on hole differential in a tiebreaker.

Hoff built a 3-up lead on Stark by winning the fourth, fifth and seventh holes, but Stark fought back to bring the match all-square through 13, and he took a 1-up lead by winning the 15th hole. The final three holes were halved, resulting in a 1-up victory for Stark.

The tournament title was the third Big 12 Championship in program history (2001 stroke play, 2018 match play, 2020 match play) and the second under head coach Mike McGraw. It was the 41st team title of McGraw’s head coaching career and his 11th tournament championship in his seventh season with the Bears. The only other team to win the Big 12 Match Play Championship was Texas Tech in 2019, a team assisted by current Baylor assisted coach Mikkel Bjerch-Andresen.

Earlier in the day, the Bears knocked off Iowa State 3-2-1 to finish off a 4-0 run through pool play. Kober, Grider and Hoff all won decisive victories, and Keefer halved his match to give the Bears the win.

Hoff never trailed and cruised to a 5&4 victory over Lukas Pany. Hoff won seven holes and dropped only two in the match. He won on the first, third, sixth, seventh, eighth, 10th and 13th holes, and he finished off the match by halving the 14th hole to go 5-up with four to play.

Kober rolled to a 5&3 victory over Frank Lindwall, recovering from an early 2-hole deficit. Lindwall won the first two holes, but he would win only one hole the rest of the way, while Kober won on the fourth, sixth, ninth, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th holes. The match was all-square through 10 holes, but Kober won the next five holes to end the match 5-up with three holes remaining.

Grider clinched at least a halve for the Bears when he knocked off Ricky Costello 4&3 to give BU its third individual match victory. Grider went wire-to-wire, winning the first, second, sixth, seventh and eighth holes to take an early 5-up lead. Costello got two holes back, but Grider rebuilt the lead to 4-up by winning the 13th hole, and he halved the next two holes to win the match 4-up with three remaining.

Keefer finished off the win by halving his match against Lachlan Barker. Keefer trailed by one hole through five, but he won the sixth and seventh holes to flip the 1-up lead to his advantage. After Barker tied the match with a win on the 10th hole, Keefer won the 12th and 13th holes to go 2-up with five to play. Barker won the 15th and 17th holes to bring the match all-square, but Keefer managed to halve the final hole to finish all-square and give the Bears the half point necessary for the victory.

Bosco dropped a 5&4 decision against Brock Barnhart to give Iowa State its first point in the match. Bosco won the first and fourth holes, but Barnhart won on the second, fifth, sixth, 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th to finish off the match 5-up with four remaining.

Dossey had a hard-fought match with Tripp Kinney, which ended in a 2&1 defeat, just the third time Dossey has been defeated in collegiate match play. Dossey had an early 1-up lead, but Kinney won the sixth, seventh, ninth and 10th holes to take a 3-up lead with eight remaining. Dossey won the 11th and 12th holes to get back within one, but the next four holes were halved, and Kinney finished the match with a win on the 17th hole to go 2-up with one remaining.

Championship Round:

1st Place Match: Baylor def. Oklahoma State 3-3 (9-4 in hole differential)

3rd Place Match: Oklahoma def. Texas 3-2-1

5th Place Match: Kansas def. TCU 5-1

7th Place Match: Texas Tech def. Iowa State 5-1

Final Results:

1. Baylor 5-0

2. Oklahoma State 2-1-1

3. Oklahoma 4-1

4. Texas 2-2

5. Kansas 2-2

6. TCU 2-3

7. Texas Tech 1-2-1

8. Iowa State 1-4

9. West Virginia 0-4

Pool A Standings:

Baylor 4-0 – 12 pts

Oklahoma 3-1 – 9 pts

TCU 2-2 – 6 pts

Iowa State 1-3 – 3 pts

West Virginia 0-4 – 0 pts

Pool B Standings:

Oklahoma State 2-0-1 – 7 pts

Texas 2-1 – 6 pts

Kansas 1-2 – 3 pts

Texas Tech 0-2-1 – 1 pt

Baylor Individual Match Results:

Johnny Keefer 4-0-1

Cooper Dossey 4-1

Ryan Grider 4-1

Colin Kober 3-2

Brandon Hoff 2-3

Trey Bosco 1-4

WHAT'S NEXT 

Baylor wraps up the fall season at the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational, which runs Oct. 18-20 at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas. Follow @BaylorMGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the season.

Tags: Golf, Baylor, 2020
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Baylor Men’s Golf Wins Big 12 Match Play Championship

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