OOLETWAH, Tenn. - After a two-hour weather delay earlier in the day, second-round play at the 2010 NCAA Championships was suspended Wednesday due to darkness at The Honors Course.
When play was suspended, the Bears had five holes remaining and were tied for 20th overall with Cal and Texas Tech at 11-over par. Nine teams, including Baylor, will resume the second round Thursday at 6 a.m. CDT. Florida State, which carded the lowest team score of the round, holds a five-stroke lead over second-place Oklahoma State. Georgia Tech (4-under) and August State (1-under) - the only other teams under par through 36 holes - are in third and fourth place, respectively.
San Diego's Alex Ching shot a 6-under 66 to overtake the individual lead by two strokes at 9-under 135. Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State is one of three players tied for second at 7-under.
Baylor freshman Ryan O'Rear, who began the second round tied for third at 3-under, is currently tied for 33rd overall after shooting 3-over par through 15 holes. Tied for 43rd, Lorenzo Scotto is 3-under par with four holes remaining in the second round. Payne Gniewek and Cody Paladino are tied for 101st at 6-over, while Joakim Mikkelsen is tied for 117th at 7-over.
The third and final round of stroke play at the 2010 NCAA Men's Golf Championship is estimated to begin Thursday at 8 a.m. CDT. The top eight teams will advance to match play in order to determine the national champion. Live scoring will be available at www.BaylorBears.com.
NCAA MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS (RESULTS INCOMPLETE, PLAY SUSPENDED)
Team Results (Top 15)
1. [11] Florida State -14 283-279=562
2. [4] Oklahoma Stat -9 283-284=567
3. [15] Georgia Tech -4 290-282=572
4. [9] Augusta State -1 287-288=575
t5. [13] Florida E 287-289=576
t5. [25] San Diego E 294-282=576
t7. [5] Washington +1 289-288=577
t7. [14] Clemson +1 286-291=577
t9. [1] Oregon +2 284-294=578
t9. [16] Arizona State +2 286-292=578
11. [19] Virginia +3 300
t12. [2] Stanford +4 292-288=580
t12. [6] UCLA +4 294-286=580
14. [22] North Florida +8 292
t15. [8] USC +9 295-290=585
t15. [42] Kent State +9 292-293=585
t20. [47] BAYLOR
+11 294
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Baylor men's golf sophomore Joakim Mikkelsen was named to the PING All-Central Region Team, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced Wednesday.
Mikkelsen is the first Baylor Bear to earn all-region honors since Ryan Baca in 2006. A total of 153 players across six regions - Northeast, East, Southeast, Midwest, Central and West - earned all-region honors for 2010. Mikkelsen was among 25 golfers named All-Central Region, including 18 from the Big 12.
The Drammen, Norway, native leads the Bears with a 72.85 scoring average, 20 rounds of par or better, five top-10, seven top-15 and nine top-25 finishes through 40 rounds entering this week's NCAA Championships in Ooletwah, Tenn. In two seasons, Mikkelsen has posted 33 rounds or par or better and eight top-10 finishes in 78 total rounds (26 tournaments).
Mikkelsen earned individual medalist honors for the first time in his career, winning the Border Olympics in March 2010. A three-time Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll member, he was named first-team Academic All-Big 12 in April.
OOLETWAH, Tenn. - Making its first finals appearance since 2002, the Baylor men's golf team is tied for 16th place Tuesday after the first round of the NCAA Championships at The Honors Course.
Baylor, the tournament's No. 29 seed, raced out to an early lead in the morning group. The Bears finished a four-way tie for 16th place with UNLV, San Diego and UCLA at 6-over 294. Eight teams in the 30-team field shot under-par Tuesday, including co-leaders Oklahoma State and Florida State at 5-under 283. Oregon is third at 4-under 284 and Texas A&M is fourth at 3-under 285. Arizona State and Clemson are tied for fifth at 2-under 286, while Florida and Augusta State are locked for a seventh-place tie at 1-under 287.
"Opening the tournament on the front nine, we were off to a great start," Baylor head men's golf coach Greg Priest said. "You have to take advantage of opportunities like we did in the morning when you can because it'll catch up with you eventually.
"In order to get one of those top eight spots for match play, we're going to need solid play," Priest said. "We played well (Tuesday) until the end when mistakes on 17 and 18 hurt us."
Arizona State's Jesper Kennegard and Augusta State's Henrik Norlander are tied atop the leaderboard at 4-under 68. Baylor freshman Ryan O'Rear is among 10 golfers tied for third place overall with a 3-under 69. Joakim Mikkelsen is tied for 65th at 2-over 74, while Payne Gniewek is at 3-over 75 - good for 90th place. Both Lorenzo Scotto and Cody Paladino are tied for 103rd at 4-over 76.
"I felt like I played really well," O'Rear said. "I missed a couple of putts, but I was able to hang in there. The course is playing really tough."
O'Rear posted two birdies through the first four holes, before back-to-back bogeys dropped him to even-par. A birdie at No. 9 put O'Rear back under-par heading into the back nine. At 410-yard, par-4 No. 13, the Salado, Texas, native carded an eagle, moving him to 3-under with five holes to play. O'Rear birdied No. 15, but bogeyed No. 18 to finish 3-under par.
"Ryan (O'Rear) kept it in play, did what we needed him to do and, overall, played really solid golf," Priest said. "He birdied two of his four holes, then bogeyed back-to-back holes, but hung in there and ended up playing pretty steady on the back nine."
Thanks to two birdies over the final three holes, Mikkelsen finished the day at 2-over 74. Like O'Rear, Gniewek opened the tournament with three birdies on the front nine. Two bogeys and a double-bogey at No. 15 dropped Gniewek to 3-over for the day. After paring the first eight holes, Scotto endured four straight bogeys before a birdie on the par-3 No. 14. Scotto bogeyed No. 18 to finish at 4-over 76. Paladino, making his second straight NCAA Championships appearance, finished the first day 4-over par
"We can't make double-bogeys and we have to eliminate three putts," Priest said. "It's hard, but if we can go out and do what we did (Tuesday) and finish better, we'll be right in the hunt."
Round two of the 2010 NCAA Men's Golf Championship is scheduled to begin with the first wave of golfers at 6 a.m. CDT Wednesday. Baylor, along with No. 28 LSU and No. 30 Georgia Southern, will start the second round from the No. 10 tee at 12:47 p.m. CDT. Live scoring will be available at www.BaylorBears.com.
NCAA MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
TEAM RESULTS (TOP 15)
t1. [4] Oklahoma State -5 283
t1. [11] Florida State -5 283
3. [1] Oregon -4 284
4. [3] Texas A&M -3 285
t5. [16] Arizona State -2 286
t5. [14] Clemson -2 286
t7. [13] Florida -1 287
t7. [9] Augusta State -1 287
9. [5] Washington +1 289
t10. [7] Texas +2 290
t10. [15] Georgia Tech +2 290
t12. [42] Kent State +4 292
t12. [2] Stanford +4 292
t12. [22] North Florida +4 292
15. [29] Cal +5 293
t16. BAYLOR +6 294
BRYAN, Texas - Baylor earned the fifth NCAA Men's Golf Championships berth in school history Saturday as the Bears held off the Georgia Bulldogs on the first playoff hole at the NCAA South Central Regional.
The Championships berth marks the first for Baylor under seventh-year head coach Greg Priest and only the second of the Big 12 era. Baylor last advanced to the NCAA Championships in 2002, when it finished 19th. The Bears also played in the NCAA Championships in 1960, 1966 and 1967.
Baylor and Georgia were tied for fifth place after 54 holes at 5-over 869. With the first - and deciding - playoff hole set on the par-4 No. 18, the Bears and Bulldogs were broken up into two groups. The first group was Bryant Macpherson (par), T.J. Mitchell (2-over) and Rob Bennett (1-over) of Georgia and Ryan O'Rear (par) and Cody Paladino (par) of Baylor. The second group was Russell Henley (par) and Harris English (par) of Georgia and Payne Gniewek (par), Lorenzo Scotto (1-over) and Joakim Mikkelsen (1-under) of Baylor. After dropping the high score, Baylor was 1-under and Georgia was 1-over, which allowed the Bears to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Sophomore Joakim Mikkelsen, who entered the regional as the team leader in nearly every statistical category, sunk a birdie putt in the second group on hole No. 18 to clinch Baylor's spot in the Championships. Before Mikkelsen's playoff birdie, Baylor was 3-over as a team on No. 18 Saturday.
"I'm just so proud of the way our guys battled back," Priest said. "We did what we needed to do today. We played really good in the beginning and, as we came down the stretch, we made some bogeys and opened the door for someone to catch us."
Texas Tech, Texas A&M, TCU and North Florida also advanced to the NCAA Championships from the South Central Regional. No. 10 Texas Tech shot 3-under Saturday to win the regional at 13-under, one stroke ahead of host and third-ranked Texas A&M (12-under). TCU finished third at 6-under, followed by North Florida in fourth at 5-under.
"Georgia's a great team," Priest said. "They are usually in the NCAA Championships every year and they have won the national title in 1999 and 2005. In that playoff, our guys stepped up and we got it done."
After a career-low 66 during Friday's second round, Payne Gniewek carded a 1-over 73 to tie for 11th overall at 2-under (75-66-73=214). Lorenzo Scotto turned in Baylor's only sub-par final round, firing a 71 to finish tied for 23rd at 3-over (75-73-71=219). Freshman Ryan O'Rear tied for 30th at 5-over (69-79-73=221), while Mikkelsen posted his second consecutive even-par round of 72. The Drammen, Norway, native finished 40th at 7-over (79-72-72=223).
Cody Paladino, who advanced to the 2009 NCAA Championships as an individual, tied for 54th overall at 13-over (72-78-79=229).
Baylor is one of 30 teams that will compete at the 113th annual NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, which will be conducted June 1-6 at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn.
BRYAN, Texas - The Baylor men's golf team shot 289 Friday, but still remains in eighth place through two rounds of the NCAA South Central Regional at The Traditions Golf Club.
Baylor and Tulsa are two shots behind North Florida and Auburn, which are tied for sixth place at 2-over 678. Pepperdine owns a four-shot cushion for fifth place, while host Texas A&M leads the 14-team field by one stroke at 11-under 565. Texas Tech carded the best score of the day, shooting 4-under 284 to move within one shot of the Aggies.
"Making up a six-shot deficit with one more round to go is doable," Baylor head men's golf coach Greg Priest said. "We need a good round Saturday. If we shoot four- or five-under-par in the final round, we can finish in the top five and advance to the Championships.
"But, we will have to shoot under-par Saturday if we want to move on."
Wichita State's Dustin Garza and Texas A&M's Ignacio Elvira remain tied atop the leaderboard through 36 holes at 8-under (66-70=136). Russell Henley (Georgia), Johan de Beer (TCU), Kevin Phelan (North Florida) and Daniel Jennevret (TCU) are in a four-way tie for third at 6-under 138. Baylor junior Payne Gniewek carded a career-low 6-under 66, moving 38 spots up the leaderboard into a 10th-place tie at 3-under 141.
Gniewek's second-round 66 - the lowest by a Baylor Bear this season - bests his previous 18-hole career low by one stroke. In October 2009, the Trenton, Mich., shot a final-round 67 at the Baylor Intercollegiate in Dallas.
"I can't say enough about how well Payne (Gniewek) played today," Priest said. "He birdied half his holes for a great round to finish in the top-10 heading into Saturday's final round."
Lorenzo Scotto and Ryan O'Rear are tied for 31st at 4-over 148. The freshman O'Rear, who entered Friday tied for sixth after a first-round 3-under 69, carded a second-round 79, while Scotto finished 1-over for the day. Cody Paladino followed Thursday's first-round even-par 72 with a 78 in the second round and is tied for 45th at 6-over 150. Joakim Mikkelsen rebounded with an even-par 72 to finish Friday tied for 51st at 7-over 151.
"We have one more shot at (moving on to the NCAA Championships) Saturday," Priest said. "But, we have to make it a good round."
The final round of the 2010 NCAA South Central Regional is scheduled to begin with the first wave of golfers - including all five Baylor Bears - at 7:30 a.m. CDT Saturday and continue in 10-minute increments. The top five teams and top individual not on those teams will advance to the 2010 NCAA Division I Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn. Live scoring will be available at www.BaylorBears.com.
