May 19, 2004

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NCAA CENTRAL REGIONAL

Dates: Thu.-Sat., May 20-22
Location: Birck Boilermaker G.C.; West Lafayette, Ind.
Par/Yardage: 72/7,259
Host: Purdue
Field: 27 (By seed: Oklahoma State, Texas, TCU, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas, Tulsa, Colorado, SMU, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Xavier, Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, Kent State, Wichita State, Indiana, Lamar, Notre Dame, Princeton, Western Illinois, Jackson State).

The Baylor men's golf team will make its seventh straight regional appearance when it competes in the NCAA Central Regional hosted by Purdue May 20-22 at the 7,259-yard, par-72 Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

The Bears are making their first postseason appearance under head coach Greg Priest, who helped the team to a season per-round average of 293.89.

Baylor is led by junior and two-time All-Big 12 selection Ryan Baca, who ranks eighth in the conference with a 72.26 stroke average.

The top 10 teams from each of the three 27-team regionals (West: Sunriver, Ore.; East: New Haven, Conn.) and two additional individuals will advance to the 2004 NCAA Championships hosted by Virginia Tech June 1-4 at The Homestead Cascades Course in Hot Springs, Va.

BAYLOR LINEUP
Player          2003-04 Average
Jeremy Alcorn   73.73 (30)
Jon Antunes     74.66 (35)
Ryan Baca       72.26 (35)
Will Doughtie   76.66 (32)
Jeremy Frye     74.52 (32)

* Jeremy Alcorn [Freshman]: Tied for 56th (75-72-74=221) in his last outing at the Perry Maxwell Intercollegiate...Tied for 13th at the Big 12 Championship with a score of 221 (74-71-76)...Tied for 16th (72-68-77=217) at the Border Olympics...Tied for 22nd (72-71-73=216) at the Morris Williams Invitational...Tied for 10th (78-69-71=218) at the Hyatt/Puerto Rico Intercollegiate (3/7-3/9)...Fired a career-low 69 in the second round at the Hyatt/Puerto Rico Intercollegiate...Had a career-high finish, tying for seventh with a career-low 216 (71-74-71) at the Roadrunner Intercollegiate (3/1-3/2)...Tied for 58th (72-75-80=227) at the Gator Invitational (1/31-2/1)...Played in three tournaments in the fall... Best finish was 29th at the C.C. of Louisiana Invitational...Average score was 75.22 for nine rounds...Also finished 33rd at the Baylor Invitational.

* Jon Antunes [Senior]: Tied for 33rd (72-72-72=216) in his last appearance at the Perry Maxwell Intercollegiate...Shot a 76 or better in every round this spring and has a team-best streak of 26 straight rounds of 76 or better dating back to the fall...Tied for 29th with a score of 225 (76-73-76) at the Big 12 Championship...Tied for 21st (71-74-73=218) at the Border Olympics...Tied for 53rd (76-76-74=226) at the Morris Williams Invitaional...Tied for 12th (74-70-75=219), his highest finish of the year and lowest round (70), at the Hyatt/Puerto Rico Intercollegiate...Tied for 26th (75-74-74=223) at the UTSA Roadrunner Intercollegiate (3/1-3/2)...Tied for 41st (76-71-76=223) at the Gator Invitational (1/31-2/1)...Competed in five tournaments this fall...Had a season-best finish of tied for 22nd with a season-low 54 hole total of 218 at the C.C. of Louisiana Invitational...Fired a season-low 70 in the first round of the Stonebridge Invitaional...Named a Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar and earned First-Team Academic All-Big 12 honors...Also made the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll.

* Ryan Baca [Junior]: Tied for 28th (75-69-71=215) at the Perry Maxwell Intercollegiate his last time out...Has 20 straight rounds of 75 or better...Finished fifth at the Big 12 Championship with a score of 215 (71-73-71)...Tied for second (69-71-68=208) with the second-lowest 54-hole total of his career in his last appearance at the Border Olympics...Fired a second-round 67(74-67-73=214) and finished tied for 12th at the Morris Williams Invitational...Tied for seventh (73-71-73=217) at the Hyatt/Puerto Rico Intercollegiate...Captured his third career title with a score of 209 (72-70-67) at the UTSA Roadrunner Intercollegiate (3/1-3/2)...Fired a season-low 4-under par 67 in the final round...Tied for 15th (76-69-72=217) at the Gator Inviational (3/1-3/2)...Traveled to all five tournaments this fall...Finished the fall with a stroke average of 73.57...Had his highest finish of the fall by tying for second at the C.C. of Lousiana Invitational with a season-low total of 211...Fired four rounds of 69 (twice at the C.C. of Louisana and once each at the Mason Rudolph Invitational and the Baylor Invitational)...Currently ranks second all-time at Baylor with 12 Top-5 and 19 Top-10 finishes...He trails current Nationwide Tour money leader Jimmy Walker by seven in each category.

* Will Doughtie [Senior]: Tied for 46th (75-73-71=219) in his last appearance at the Perry Maxwell Intercollegiate...Finished 60th at the Big 12 Championship with a score of 253 (80-86-87)...Tied for 23rd (74-70-75=219) at the Border Olympics...Finished tied for 80th (79-89-77=245) at the Morris Williams Invitational...Tied for 26th (84-74-72=230) at the Hyatt/Puerto Rico Intercollegiate...Tied for 52nd (78-76-76=230) at the UTSA Roadrunner Intercollegiate (3/1-3/2)...Finished 65th (78-75-77=230) at the Gator Invitational (1/31-2/1)...Competed in four tournaments in the fall...Highest finish was a tie for eighth at the William H. Tucker with a season-low total of 216 (74-70-72)...Twice had season-low rounds of 70, once at the William H. Tucker and again at the Baylor Invitational.

* Jeremy Frye [Freshman]: Tied for 36th (76-69-72=217) in his last showing at the Perry Maxwell Intercollegiate...Second-round 69 was his best of the spring and best since the fall's Baylor Invitational (Sept. 29)...Tied for 52nd at the Big 12 Championship with a score of 234 (78-80-76)...Tied for 41st (74-74-74=222) at the Border Olympics...Tied for 53rd (76-74-76=226) at the Morris Williams Invitational...Tied for 16th (73-82-70=225) at the Hyatt/Puerto Rico Intercollegiate...Tied for 22nd (73-76-73=222) at the UTSA Roadrunner Intercollegiate (3/1-3/2)...Tied for 41st (71-73-79=223) in his last outing at the Gator Invitational...Played in four tournaments in the fall...Finished fourth at the Baylor Invitational shooting back-to-back sub 70 rounds, including a career-low 68 in the first round...Also Finished tied for 15th at the Stonebridge Invitational...Ended the fall with the best stroke average on the team with a 73.54 for 11 rounds.

BAYLOR NOTES

Baylor at the NCAA Regional
The Bears are competing in their seventh straight NCAA Central Regional...Baylor's highest finish was seventh in 2002, when the Bears earned the program's first NCAA Championship berth since 1967...Baylor has made four total NCAA Championship appearances (1960, 1966, 1967, 2002).

Last Time Out
Baylor finished 11th at the Perry Maxwell Intercollegiate May 15-16 in Ardmore, Okla...Most of the Maxwell field was made up of NCAA Regional qualifiers, giving the Bears a good test before the postseason...Junior Ryan Baca led the Bears by tying for 28th...All of the Bears seemed to play well, with none of the players shooting higher than 76 the entire tournament.

Rollin' With Ryan
Junior Ryan Baca leads the Bears and ranks eighth in the Big 12 with a 72.26 stroke average, including a remarkable 71.38 in the spring...He also earned All-Big 12 honors for the second straight year...Baca has been Baylor's top finisher in every tournament this spring and the last eight in a row dating back to the fall...Baca ranks second all-time at Baylor with 12 Top-5 and 19 Top-10 finishes, seven behind current Nationwide Tour money leader Jimmy Walker in each category...He also has a streak of 24 straight rounds of 76 or better, including 15 rounds of par or better and sub-70 rounds in seven those.

Fantastic Freshmen
First-year players Jeremy Alcorn and Jeremy Frye have been outstanding in their first seasons at Baylor...Alcorn ranks second on the team with a 73.73 stroke average overall and 73.10 for the spring...He has three Top-15 finishes this spring, including a pair of Top-10s and a career-high finish with a tie for seventh at the UTSA Roadrunner Intercollegiate...Frye led the Bears in scoring during the fall, averaging 73.54 strokes, and currently stands third on the team at 74.52 for the year...He has two Top-15 showings and a career high finish by tying for fourth at the Baylor Invitational in the fall.

Another Shot for Seniors
Seniors Jon Antunes and Will Doughtie will attempt to extend their careers for one more tournament and leave the young Bears with momentum heading into 2004-05...Antunes has never been to an NCAA Championship, while Doughtie played in the 2002 championship in Columbus, Ohio...Junior Ryan Baca also played in the 2002 championship as a freshman.

Looking Ahead
Should Baylor be among the top 10 teams at the NCAA Central Regional, the Bears would advance to the 2004 NCAA Championship June 1-4 at The Homestead Cascades Course in Hot Springs, Va.