Hayley Davis didn’t just arrive at Baylor and put together a strong golf career. She helped change the entire direction of the program.
That’s the story behind her selection to the 2026 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame. When Davis got to Waco in the fall of 2011, Baylor women’s golf had made one NCAA Championship appearance, a tie for 19th in 2004. By the time she finished, the Bears were a national runner-up, and the program had become a regular on the NCAA stage.
“This program was built on the back of Hayley Davis,” head coach Jay Goble said. “She took a chance on Baylor, and she helped us tremendously become the predominant top-25 program that we are today.”
Davis, a native of Bournemouth, England, had originally committed to Sylvia Ferdon before the coaching change that brought Goble aboard. The transition could have been awkward. Instead, it clicked.
“I actually got recruited by the old coaches,” Davis said. “And then in August, I got the call from Jay when he got the job.
That was different coming in and not knowing. But to be honest, straight away, we got on really well.
I just had a great time, to be fair. It was definitely a good choice coming to Baylor.”
Her impact showed up immediately. As a freshman, Davis helped Baylor win three team titles and posted a third-place individual finish at the NCAA West Regional. After tying for fifth at the regional, the Bears advanced to the NCAA Championship for just the second time and tied for 16th.
“There has never been a player like Hayley Davis at Baylor,” Goble said. “I think consistency is the key to what she has done to change the program. I feel extremely blessed that I came into a team that had Hayley Davis already committed to come play for Baylor.”
Davis was a three-time All-Big 12 selection, finishing runner-up as a freshman by one stroke, fourth as a sophomore and tied for 10th as a senior. That final season also brought Baylor its first and only Big 12 team championship.
“Me coming in at the same time with Jay, we didn't know it was going to be like that,” Davis said. “We just kind of built on it, and we had such a good team. . . .
We all had the same goals. And especially my senior year, we all really wanted to work together as a team to get the results we wanted.
I just enjoyed being a part of it. it's good to see the program still carrying on from that.”
Her senior year was loaded with milestones. Davis set Baylor records for single-season scoring average at 72.32 and career scoring average at 73.00. She also won the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, finished second at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge and captured the NCAA San Antonio Regional by five strokes with a school-record 16-under-par 200.
That regional win was part of a bigger Baylor breakthrough. After the Bears punched their ticket with that record-setting performance in San Antonio, they finished third in stroke play at the NCAA Championship to reach match play.
Baylor then beat sixth-seeded Tennessee, 3-1-1, in the quarterfinals, with Davis winning her head-to-head match against A.J. Newell.
The Bears kept rolling in the semifinals, upsetting defending national champion Duke, 3-2, when freshman Lauren Whyte won on the sixth hole of a playoff. Baylor was suddenly one step from its first national title.
Davis had the Bears in prime position against Stanford, going 2-up on Mariah Stackhouse after a stunning 8-iron from 134 yards out of the mud and an eight-foot birdie putt on the 16th. Golf Channel’s Kay Cockerill said it “had to have been one of the most incredible birdies we've seen all week.”
“One of Hayley's strengths is that she doesn't fear anything,” Cockerill said.
But Stanford fought back. Stackhouse won the final two holes to force a playoff, and Davis missed a par putt on the first extra hole at No.
- Baylor fell short in the end, and Davis left her final collegiate match devastated.
Even so, she never lost sight of why she came to Baylor.
“That's why I came to Baylor, because that's what I wanted for the program.”
“Where the program was before I came, I knew it wasn't the best program,” she said, “but it had potential, and that's why came to Baylor, because I knew it really could be like this. I'm just really excited how it's going for them, and I think it's only going to get better, too.”
Davis finished her Baylor career as a three-time All-American, earning first-team honors from Golfweekly as a senior. Her 28 top-10 finishes in 47 tournaments and 20 top-five results are school records that likely won’t be touched anytime soon.
She joins a Hall of Fame class that includes “Voice of the Bears” John Morris, football’s Corey Coleman, basketball’s Quincy Acy, baseball’s Zane Carlson and Trayvon Bromell, Tiffani McReynolds and the late Bill Martineson from track and field.
“I wasn't really expecting it, to be fair,” Davis said. “Obviously, I graduated like 10 years ago, so it's quite a while ago.
But when Jay sent me a message and then I got the call, it was so exciting. I'm really excited that I'm going to be able to come back (for the banquet) as well.
I haven't been back for a while, so it'll be nice.”
Since turning pro in 2015, Davis has won four titles, including the 2023 Cape Town Ladies Open on the Sunshine Tour. She now plays a limited schedule, while also helping “some of the younger players coming up . . . to help give them the same opportunities that I had in any way that I can.”
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