Ultimately, sophomore Ryan Grider made a clutch 6-footer on No. 18 to put the finishing touches on Baylor’s win, the 11th under head coach Mike McGraw, who has been with the Bears for five years.
"Ryan (Grider) asked me how we were doing (while looking at a 50-foot putt on the 18th green), and I said 'it's really close, but I'm not positive,’” McGraw said after the round. “Everybody was confused, but I said 'I think if you two-putt this we're either going to win by a shot or tie,' so he knew what he needed to do. Normally I wouldn't do that, but I wanted to give Ryan an opportunity to do something special, and he made a great six-footer coming back.”
Three other Bears – Braden Bailey, Cooper Dossey and Colin Kober – tied for 10th at 6 under.
Baylor was tied for third entering the final round and was six shots off the pace. SMU was in the top spot, but a 7-under 277 in the final round wasn’t enough to hold off Baylor.
SMU sophomore Mac Meissner carded a 2-under 69 in the final round and was 10 under overall to finish tied for third. Meissner's finish is the best of his career, his previous best being a tie for fifth. Meissner, who advanced to the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur, also collected the second-most birdies of any golfer in the field with 17.
Classmate Noah Goodwin, the 2017 U.S. Junior winner, tied for seventh.
The College of Charleston fell one spot to third and Florida, with a 10-under 274 in the final round, rose two spots to fourth. North Texas rounded out the top 5.
Information from Baylor, SMU Athletics used in this report