MAURO BAEZ
FLAGLER SAINTS
For the first time since
2012, the Flagler College
men’s golf team placed
two golfers on the
Division II PING All-
Southeast Region Team.
BGGA Alumni Mauro Baez
was one of them. “I am
very proud of both of
them,” said director of
golf Santiago Cavanagh.
“We are in an extremely
competitive region, so it is a great honor to be selected to
the all-region team.”
Baez earned first-team All-Peach Belt Conference honors as
well as All-PBC Tournament accolades after finishing in a tie
for second place at -4. The BGGA Alumni led the team with
a 73.17 strokes per round average and had three top five as
well as four top 10 finishes. A sophomore, Baez is ranked No.
64 in NCAA Division II, according to the Golfstat rankings.
ANA PAULA VALDES
CLEMSON TIGERS
BGGA Class of 2016 Ana
Paula Valdes won her first
collegiate tournament
in the fall of 2018 with
co-medalist honors at
the Battle at the Beach. A
starter for Clemson each
of her first two years,
she was a veteran of 26
tournaments entering
spring of 2019. Valdez has
five collegiate top 10s.
She earned the top finish for a Tiger at the ACC Women’s
Championship, finishing in a tie for 20th.
Here is Valdes’ impressive overview:
• All-America Scholar by the Golf Coaches Association
each of her first two years.
• Academic All-ACC each of her first two years.
• Second on the Clemson team in stroke average as a
freshman and third as a sophomore, Valdez improved
her stroke average from 74.28 as a freshman to 73.63 as
a sophomore.
• Second in Clemson history in career scoring average
with a 73.59 figure entering spring of 2019.
• Second in career rounds at par or better with 29, second
in career finish percentage (.659), fifth in career counting
scores with 72.
• Her score has counted 93.5 percentage of the time (72-
77).
• Third in career birdies on career basis with 210.
• First Clemson golfer to shoot par or better in all three
rounds of the ACC Tournament.
• Clemson’s top player at the ACC Tournament and the
NCAA National Tournament as a freshman.
• Ranked among the top 10 junior girls in the nation for
most of her last four years.
• Second-team AJGA Rolex All-American for 2015.
• In the summer of 2016 was ranked No. 6 among Junior
Girls in the class of 2016.
• Won the Sergio Garcia Junior Championship in May of
2016 with scores of 71-70.
• Committed to Clemson as a sophomore in at BGGA.
JULIAN PERICO
ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS
BGGA Alumni Julian
Perico, ended his
rookie season with the
Razorbacks by earning
PING All-Region and SEC
All-Freshman. He led the
Razorbacks with a 71.34
scoring average, which
additionally stands as the
best scoring average by a
Razorback freshman.
Perico, a native of Lima, Peru, finished sixth with a 54-hold,
3-under-par score at the NCAA Austin Regional and qualified
as an individual for the NCAA Championships. Perico was the
highest placing individual not on an advancing team to earn
his spot while Arkansas finished sixth as a team to fall just
short of a berth to the championships. The Peru native shot
a final round 71 to secure the lone spot for an individual to
advance from the Austin Regional.
THE GATE | JUNE 2019
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