Chalk up another milestone for the Pea Patch alumni.

Less than six months after Chris Stroud scored his first PGA Tour victory in Nevada, and only nine-days following Andrew Landry’s epic playoff battle with world No. 2 Jon Rahm in California, Braden Bailey authored his first outright college championship in Arizona.

The Baylor junior did it in decisive fashion, too, winning by four shots in the Arizona Intercollegiate at Sewailo Golf Club in Tucson. He nailed down the victory with a closing two-under par 69 Tuesday, after opening with rounds of 72-69. At three-under 210, he was the only man in a 92-player field to break par.

The Port Neches-Groves ex actually had to play 24 of the final 54 holes on Tuesday, because gusting winds slowed play to a crawl on Monday, resulting in a suspension of the second round. He returned to play near flawless golf, making a birdie on his first hole of the suspended round and posting 19 pars, three birdies and a lone bogey the rest of the way.

For Bailey, who started the week No. 19 in Golfweek’s college player rankings, it was actually his second victory at Baylor. But the first one was a co-championship with teammate Matthew Perrine during his sophomore season at Royal Oaks in Dallas.

“This one was definitely more satisfying,” said Bailey. “The conditions were so much harder because of the wind on Monday. It was at least 20 miles per hour all the time, with gusts up to 30. It was really a fight to get around in par. Today was much easier.”

The only downer for Bailey was that No. 6 ranked Baylor, which led much of the way, did not win the team title. The Bears wound up finishing third, four shots back of fast-finishing Arizona and two back of No. 2 ranked Texas A&M.

In Tuesday’s calmer conditions, Arizona played the final 18 holes in 15-under par 269. Its winning total was 10-over 862.

In addition to the second college win for Bailey, it was his eighth career top 5 finish and 15th career top 10. It also enhanced his chances of being one of 12 college golfers on the Palmer Cup team that will face an International team in a Ryder format July 6-8 in Evian, France.

“This will definitely help with the Palmer Cup,” he said. “Making that team would be a really big deal.”

Bailey wasn’t sure what to expect out of his game when he arrived in Tucson. He had not played competitively since October and had gotten away from the game over the holidays to sort of recharge his batteries.

Then, when he was ready to get back to work, miserable weather conditions made it difficult.

“I did some pretty intense work on my short game when I got back to school and it really paid off,” he said. “My game was solid overall, but my short game was very good. It probably made the difference.”

Nobody was happier about Bailey being medalist than his coach, Mike McGraw.

“Braden has contended on a number of occasions this year, so it is great to see him finally get the win,” said McGraw. “He is a leader for us in every way.”

The next tournament for Bailey and Baylor is the University of Houston’s All-America Feb. 16-18 at the Golf Club of Houston.
CHIP SHOTS

Andrew Landry and Bailey aren’t the only golfers with PNG ties to have reason to celebrate successes in January. Josh Elmore is also in the mix.

Elmore, despite rainy, miserable conditions, authored back-to-back second-place finishes in the Southern Texas PGA’s Prestige Tour 2018 opening event at the Golf Club of Houston’s Tournament Course and the Magnolia ISD Shootout at High Meadow Ranch.

The PNG senior shot rounds of 77-70 for a three-over 147 on the course where PGA Tour pros will play in late March. That left him three shots back of Houstonian Garrison Hoyt, who signed for 144 on rounds on 74-70.

At High Meadow Ranch, Elmore carded rounds of 72-74 for a 146, a total that left him a stroke behind Andrew Jacobs of Clear Springs. Elmore’s solid play helped PNG to an eighth place showing at 639, 24 shots behind team champ Magnolia’s 615.

Other PNG scores included a 164 (84-80) by Brice Parsley and 166s by Timothy Feemster (85-80) and Chase Selman (86-79). Victor Aponte’s 177 (85-92) did not count toward the team total …

Both Chris Stroud and Landry will be back in action at this week’s PGA Tour Chem Waste Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz. Stroud, who took last week off, will be looking to boost his FedEx Cup ranking of 111 and his Official World Golf Ranking of 171.

Landry, after losing to world No. 2 Jon Rahm on the fourth hole of a sudden death playoff at the CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, California, missed the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego this past week on rounds of 73-75.

He is currently No. 14 in Fed Ex points and carries an OWGR of 106.
In the Friday Cooksey Best 2 Ball at Babe Zaharias, the team of Peanut Lawson, Rod Conerly, Larry Thompson and Mike Brown won the front with minus 6. On the back, there was a tie at minus-4 between the fivesome of Jim Huebel, Mike Lansford, Paul Young, Billy Foret and Adrin Hollier and the team of Larry Stone, Dennis Walsh, Richard Head, Richard Macenal and Jerry Boudreaux.

Minus-1 was a winning score on the front in the Friday Senior 2-Ball at Zaharias for the team of Craig Geoffroy, Harry Green, Charles Leard and Pete Reobroi. Plus-1 won the back for the foursome of Benny Sharpe, Brad Royer, Dwayne Benoit and Tommy Duhon.

The Thursday Senior Game at Zaharias was played in a three-man scramble format. Placing first at minus-9 was the team of Adam Noel, Green and James Trahan.

Second at minus-7 was the team of Craig Fontenot, Charles Perez and Bob Barnes. Closest to the pin winners were Rick Pritchett (No. 2) and Fontenot (No. 12).

The Wednesday Zaharias DogFight was won with 14 points by the foursome of Raymond Darbonne, Ron Mistrot, Dillard Darbonne and Paul Duplantis. Placing second with 13 points was the team of Rick Pritchett, Bim Morrow, Larry Johnson and Benoit.

Closest to the pin winners were Pritchett (No. 2), Morrow (No. 7) and Noel (No. 12).

Saturday’s heavy rains forced the postponement of stop No. 2 on the Texas-Louisiana Junior Winter Tour at Henry Homberg Golf Club in Beaumont. It has been rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 17. The tour goes back across the Sabine River for a Saturday tournament at The National in Westlake, Louisiana.
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