Baylor’s golf team is headed to the NCAA Championships for only the sixth time in school history, with a big reason being one of the smaller players in Division I — 5-foot-9, 142-pound Braden Bailey.
The freshman from Port Neches-Groves has exceeded all expectations in a season in which he leads the Bears in stroke average (72.69), top 10 (6) and top 25 (9) finishes and most rounds of par or better (15). In so doing, he’s zoomed all the way up to No. 110 in Golfweek’s rankings of college players.
Bailey’s latest and most significant accomplishment was a fifth-place tie in the NCAA Regional at Kohler, Wisconsin, capped by a closing 68 that help the Bears to a T4 finish with Florida State. The clutch performance came when his team needed final-round fireworks to qualify for the NCAA championships starting Friday in Eugene, Oregon.
Baylor’s first year coach Mike McGraw, who had the good fortune of inheriting Bailey from his predecessor, fairly gushes when he talks about Braden the golfer, the teammate and the future face of a program that is definitely on the rise.
“As the year went on, it started sinking in that this kid could be pretty special,” said McGraw. “He just kept improving. I’d give him an A-minus for his freshman season. The only reason it isn’t an A-plus is because he believes, and I believe, he’s capable of much more.
“I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t walk away from here a first-team All-America.”
Don’t take what McGraw says lightly. The man’s been around college golf for 20 years, coached future pros like Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Charles Howell III and been part of three national championships at Oklahoma State and Alabama. In Bailey, he sees a stunning contradiction to the big, strong new-wave player starting to dominate golf.
“So much about golf these days is how far you hit the ball,” McGraw said. “Here’s the thing about Braden. Pound for pound, he’s the longest player off the tee I’ve ever seen in college golf. Yes, others can hit it farther, but it is amazing how far out there he moves the ball. He’s added so much distance
since last summer.

“When he first got here, his driver was carrying 268 yards, with a clubhead speed of 107 miles per hour. Now he’s flying it 298 yards and has a clubhead speed of 113. It’s the most dramatic change in distance I’ve ever seen from a player.”
Among Bailey’s many virtues that excite McGraw are his poise, his intelligence and his non-stop work ethic.
“Braden’s the model for the kind of kid I want to recruit in the future,” McGraw said. “Not only does he work hard, he works smart and he doesn’t need to be pushed. He’s not just out there beating balls. He has a purpose. He’s just so far beyond his years. He doesn’t get rattled. I really enjoy walking
with him and watching in tournaments.”
In addition to his numerous golf-related assets, Bailey has proved to be a
great teammate.
“The other kids in this program love him,” says McGraw. “They enjoy being around him. Braden’s really come out of his shell. He’s got a subtle sense of humor and interacts well. The smile on his face was priceless last week when he was walking up the last hole, the other guys were behind the green and he saw the looks on their faces.”
So how high is the upside and what does Bailey need to do to reach it?
“I am thrilled about what he can accomplish in the next three years at Baylor,” McGraw said. “I definitely believe he’s going to be good enough to play at the next level. To get there, he needs to become a better putter. He is a good putter now, but he needs to become an elite putter.
“There is also a confidence element. He is going to need to be comfortable being near the lead. I think he knows he’s good, but he has to believe down deep he can be an elite player.”
The next step in that process comes this weekend in Eugene. Other than last fall’s U.S. Amateur, it will be the toughest field against which Bailey has competed.
All signs indicate he won’t be in over his head.
CHIP SHOTS

Buddy Sepeda of Port Arthur may not be the only person in the world who has ever bowled a perfect game and made a hole in one in the same month, but you have to believe the list is very short. Sepeda, after rolling a 300 earlier in May, aced the 155-yard, seventh hole at Babe Zaharias on Friday. He swung a 7-iron for the shot witnessed by David Evans, Drake Romero and David Colton. It was his third hole in one. …

Jonathan Martin of Port Arthur also scored a hole in one at Zaharias. Martin used a pitching wedge from 146 yards on the 15th hole for an ace that was witnessed by Justin Hailey, Terry Goff, Tommy Ralph and James Robinson. …

PN-G junior-to-be Trey Elmore got his summer tournament schedule off to a rousing start by scoring a three-shot victory in a Prestige Tour event at Victoria Country Club. Elmore posted a one-under 36-hole total of 143 on rounds of 72-71. The victory earned him berths in the Junior Byron Nelson at the end of June in Dallas and the Texas State Junior late in July. His next big tourney is the Junior PGA qualifier at Augusta Pines June 6-7. …

PN-G ex Chris Stroud will be back in action Thursday at Colonial in Fort Worth, after withdrawing prior to the second round of last week’s Byron Nelson with a wrist injury. Stroud was listed as having been disqualified, but says he left a voice mail for PGA Tour officials that he was withdrawing because of his wrist. There appears to have been some sort of miscommunication. …

Another PN-G ex, Andrew Landry, made the 36-hole cut at the Nelson, but didn’t get to play the final round because of a 54-hole cut. Landry collected $13,797 after rounds of 69-68-72. …

West Orange-Stark ex Michael Arnaud used weekend rounds of 67-68 to finish tied for 32nd and collect $3,696 in the Web.com Tour BMW Charity Invitational. …

The team of Tom LeTourneau, Joe Gongora, Tony Trevino and ghost player Jess McPhillips scored a sweep in the Monday Senior 50 Plus Game at Babe Zaharias. The LeTourneau team was minus 6 on the front and minus 3 on the back in a two-best ball format. …

The Super Saturday Game at The Babe was also played in a two-ball format. On the front, the team of Rick Pritchett, Thad Borne, James Shipley and Don Duplan won with minus-5. The back was won in minus-3 by the team of Ed Holley, Troy Touchet, Danny Harrington and John Ramsey. …

The Friday Senior Game at Zaharias saw a tie at minus-4 on the front between the team of Cap Hollier, Gary Fontenot, John Williams and McPhillips and the foursome of Adam Noel, Dillard Darbonne, Shipley and Tommy Duhon. The back was won in minus-5 by the team of Craig Fontenot, Earl Richard, Larry Johnson and Wes McDonald. …

The Thursday Senior Game at The Babe was played in a four-person, select drive, with the best three balls counting. The team of Pritchett, Bob Wactor, Mark Petry and Ron Overstreet won the front in minus-8. There was a six-way tie on the back at minus-1. Closest to the pin winners were Bill Jones (No. 2), Petry (No. 7), Hollier (No. 12) and Wactor (No. 15). …

The Wednesday Babe Zaharias DogFight finished in a two-way tie.
Accumulating 20 points was the team of Hollier, Ron Mistrot, Bill Draughon and McPhillips and the foursome of Bob Byerly, Rodney Christman, David Sturgal and Paul Bourgeois. Closest to the pin winners were Bourgeois (No. 2), Richard (No. 7), Paul Allemand (No. 12) and Gongora (No. 15).

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