Baylor women’s golf is back in action at the 2018 Schooner Fall Classic, which runs Friday through Sunday on the par-71, 6,063-yard course at Belmar Golf Club in Norman, Okla.
The Bears are playing in the Schooner Fall Classic for the third time in the last five seasons. BU tied for eighth place in a 17-team field at the 2014 event and finished 12th in a 15-team field last season.
Baylor’s lineup is led by a pair of sophomores with Diane Baillieux in the No. 1 spot and Gurleen Kaur playing at No. 2. Senior Maria Vesga is in the No. 3 spot, followed by junior Fiona Liddell and sophomore Laila Hrindova. Sophomore Jordan Shackelford will compete as an individual. This is the fourth consecutive tournament that the Bears have started Baillieux, Kaur and Vesga in the top-three spots, respectively.
The tournament is scheduled to begin with tee times starting at 9:30 a.m. CT Friday.Saturday’s second round tee times start at 9 a.m., and Sunday’s final round is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m.
Baylor is part of a 15-team field that includes Oklahoma, Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Mississippi State, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, UNC-Wilmington and Wisconsin. Five teams in the field were among the 24 squads that advanced to last season’s NCAA Championship, including Alabama, Baylor, Florida State, Oklahoma and Texas.
Baylor players will begin Friday’s first round from the 10th tee in pairings with players from Texas A&M and New Mexico. Hrindova has the first tee time at 9:50 a.m., and she’ll be followed by Liddell at 10 a.m., Vesga at 10:10 a.m., Kaur at 10:20 a.m. and Baillieux at 10:30 a.m. Shackelford also tees off from No. 10 at 10:50 a.m.
Baillieux, Liddell and Vesga are returning to the Schooner Fall Classic after playing last year’s event. Liddell shot a final round of 6-under 65 to jump into a tie for 13th place at 2-under 211. Vesga tied for 47th place at 7-over 220, and Baillieux, who was making her collegiate debut, shot 22-over 235 to tie for 78th place. Baillieux bounced back to post the team’s best individual finish in each of her next three events.
Kaur led the team in the season-opening Cougar Classic with a tie for 15th place at 4-under 140. Vesga tied for 20th place at 3-under 141, and Baillieux tied for 36th place at 2-over 146. Liddell shot 6-over 150, and Shackelford carded 13-over 157.
Vesga currently ranks fifth in program history with a 74.49 career stroke average across 83 rounds, while Liddell ranks eighth with a 75.17 mark across 63 career rounds. Baillieux’s 74.68 career stroke average across 31 rounds would rank sixth if she met the 45-round minimum, while Kaur is less than halfway to the minimum with 21 rounds played, but her 73.19 stroke average is less than two-tenths back of Hayley Davis’ school record of 73.00.
