Ducks Post Best Round, Still Finish 10th at Pac-10s

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. ? Oregon shot a 370 Wednesday, its best round of the Pac-10 men's golf championships, but could not quite climb out of the cellar and finished 10th in the final standings.

UCLA shot a 361 to maintain its third round lead and win its sixth overall Pac-10 men's golf title. The Bruins finished at even par 1420 over the course of the four-round event, played at the 7,009-yard, par-71 Big Horn Country Club.

Daniel Im of UCLA took medalist honors at 7-under 277 and led four Bruins who finished in the top 17. Niklas Lemke of Arizona State was second at 6-under 278, while Washington's Erik Olson finished third at 281.

UCLA was 12 strokes better than defending champion Washington, which finished second at 1432. Arizona State was next at 1437, with USC (1442) and Arizona (1444) rounding out the top five.

Stanford finished sixth at 1444, while California took seventh at 1479 and Oregon State placed eighth at 1484.

Washington State barely held off Oregon for ninth place, scoring a 1497 that was three strokes better than the Ducks' 1500.

On Wednesday, Joey Benedetti and Matt Ma each had rounds of even par 71 to lead the Ducks, while overall, Gregg LaVoie was Oregon's top finisher. The senior from Pasco, Wash., who earned All-America honorable mention honors a year ago, shot a 74 Wednesday to finished tied for 40th at 16-over 300.

Ma, a junior from Aiea, Hawaii, and Derek Sipe, a sophomore from Yorba Linda, Calif, tied for 43rd at 301. Benedetti, a sophomore from Huntington Beach, Calif., tied for 48th at 303.

The 10th-place finish was Oregon's worst since taking last in 1996, and brought about an unfitting end to the career of head coach Steve Nosler, who announced in March that he would be stepping down following the 2006 season, his 14th in Eugene. The Ducks are not anticipating receiving an at-large bid for the May 18-20 NCAA West Regional.

An announcement regarding Nosler's replacement is expected sometime next month.

Pac-10 Championships

The Canyons at Big Horn

Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Final Round

7,009 yards, par-71

Team Standings - 1, UCLA, 349-348-362-361-1420. 2, Washington, 352-352-361-367-1432. 3, Arizona State, 367-360-349-361-1437. 4, USC, 364-354-365-359-1442. 5, Arizona, 360-363-353-368-1444. 6, Stanford, 358-369-359-360-1446. 7, California, 371-372-365-371-1479. 8, Oregon State, 361-369-372-382-1484. 9, Washington State, 371-374-373-379-1479. 10, Oregon, 373-384-373-370-1500.

Individual Top 5- 1, Daniel Im, UCLA, 67-68-70-72-277. 2, Niklas Lemke, Arizona State, 66-71-70-71-278. 3, Erik Olson, Washington, 67-70-74-70-281. 4 (tie), Alejandro Canizares, Arizona State, 75-69-70-68-282; Tyler Ley, USC, 74-67-71-70-282.

Oregon Results - 40 (tie), Gregg LaVoie, 74-77-75-74-300. 43 (tie), Matt Ma, 76-78-76-71-301; Derek Sipe, 72-79-74-76-301. 46 (tie), Joey Benedetti, 75-82-75-71-303. 52 (tie), Chris Dukeminier, 80-73-74-78-305. 55, Dustin Pewarchuk, 76-77-75-78-306.

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