Headed down the home stretch of a stellar collegiate career at Baylor, the timing seemingly couldn’t be better for Braden Bailey to take a giant step toward the future.

And there’s a potential prestigious cherry awaiting which would provide a delicious topping.

That cherry would be the Byron Nelson Award, presented to America’s top senior college player by Srixon/Cleveland Golf. Finalists were chosen by the Golf Coaches Association of America, with criteria being a nominee’s entire collegiate academic and golf career, as well as overall character and integrity.

Bailey, who will graduate in May with roughly a 3.7 GPA, is one of five Nelson finalists. Others are Stanford’s Brandon Wu, Cal’s Collin Marakawa, Northwestern’s Ryan Lamsden and Kalamazoo’s Nick Ludka. The recipient is expected to be announced in late April.

As for that giant step toward the future, the Port Neches-Groves ex started the journey on Tuesday in the Mackenzie Tour Q School at Carlton Oaks Golf Club outside San Diego. Bailey is one of 120 players at that site trying to earn playing privileges on the Canadian PGA Tour this summer.

“I think I’m ready,” said Bailey, after his first practice round at Carlton Oaks. “My confidence is higher than it has been in a good while. Things have started to fall into place for me this spring, but I didn’t get the scoring results I should have until last week at the Valspar.”

Bailey, in that event at Houston Astro owner Jim Crane’s Floridian National, posted the best finish of his senior season with a tie for fifth in a field of 84 players. He shot rounds of 66-69-71 for what was his ninth top five and 18th top 10 at Baylor.

He’s won twice — once as a sophomore and once as a junior. Three more college tournaments remain, prior to the NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships. If Baylor reaches NCAA championship week, Bailey will become the first player in school history to make it four times.

“I think my game is back to where it was for the fall and first spring tournament of my junior year,” he said, prior to his Q school debut. “I had a bit of a dry spell but my game is getting closer and closer to where it was when I was playing really well. One thing that’s helped is going back to a driver from my freshman year.”

The Carlton Oaks site is one of six for the Mackenzie Q school. Fields are a mixture of pros and collegians looking for a competitive situation before Web.com Tour Q school next fall. The medalist at each site is fully exempt for 12 summer tournaments in Canada.

Beyond that, players who finish two through 14 are exempt through the first six tournaments and those 15 through 40 get conditional status.

“I know a few of the college guys who are here and recognized the name of a
few of the pros,” Bailey said. “I am kind of excited about this. It’s what I’ve played my whole golf career for. I know this is going to be a different kind of pressure than I have ever felt.

“The key is going to be playing smart, disciplined golf and try to make as few bogeys as possible. Again, I feel my game is trending up. From what I saw of the golf course, it should fit my game pretty well. The greens are fine, but the fairways are spotty. Of course, I grew up with that.”

Meanwhile, in the back of Bailey’s mind is the Nelson Award.

He’s thrilled and honored to be one of the finalists, having learned about it up close and personal last year when Baylor teammate Matthew Perrine was the winner.

“To be a finalist for an award with Mr. Nelson’s name on it is an incredible honor,” he said. “With his legacy, what he’s done for and means to golf and being from Texas, it’s difficult to put into words what it would mean to win.”

One thing is for sure. As folks in Southeast Texas well know, Braden exemplifies everything the Nelson Award stands for. The Collegiate Golf Coaches Association couldn’t possibly pick a more deserving winner.

CHIP SHOTS

Nederland won its own Invitational in boys golf Monday, earning a team score of 342 to edge Hamshire-Fannett by three strokes. Port Neches-Groves was third at 367.

Keyton Degeyter of Warren shot 72 for medalist honors. Peyton Weems of Lumberton was second with 80, and Gavin Myers of H-F was third at 81.

Nederland’s scorecard included: Brendan Marley, 83; Tyler Wallie, 85; Daniel Cormier, 86; Jadon Bell, 88; and Charles Morgan, 97.

For PNG: Jason Adams, 87; Michael Blotner, 93, Braden Broussard, 93; Blake Makelki, 94; and Logan Landry, 113. …

The team of Hunter Huff, Dalton Shields and Collin Todora combined for a 12-under-par 60 at Babe Zaharias Saturday to win the PNG boys golf team fundraising scramble. A total of 23 teams participated.

There was a two-way tie for second. Shooting 61s was the trio of Shane Trahan, Chris Oliver and Jaxson Trahan and the threesome of Timothy Feemster, Tyler Feemster and Brendan Marley.

A surprise visitor at the tourney was former PNG golf coach Tommy Tucker. The man who helped get the PNG golf dynasty up and running spent time visiting with donors, volunteers and participants. …

Minus-5 was the winning score on the front in the Monday Senior 50 Plus 2-ball at Babe Zaharias. Team members included James Shipley, Calvin Landry, Harrell Guidry, Pete Reobroi and Jim Cooper. On the back, the team of Keith Mullins, Rick Pritchett, Kace Begaman and Rusty Hicks won with minus-9. …

In the Friday Senior 2-ball at Zaharias, the team of Bob Byerly, Gene Jones, Don MacNeil and Dwayne Benoit won the front with minus one. On the back, minus-2 won for the foursome of Tom LeTourneau, Cap Hollier, Landry and Jerry Watson. …

The Wednesday DogFight at Zaharias ended in a two tie. Amassing 16 points was the team of Kenny Robbins, Landry, Lee Bertrand and Tommy Duhon and the foursome of Bim Morrow, Steve Wisenbaker, Don Duplan and Paul Brown.

Closest to the pin winners were Hollier (No. 2), Benoit (No. 7), Ed Holley (No. 12) and Robbins (No. 15).

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