Benedetti Ties for Eighth at Thunderbird Invitational

TEMPE, Ariz. ? Joey Benedetti, who had to beat teammate Justin St. Clair in a playoff earlier in the week just to make the varsity five, shot a 2-under 69 Sunday to finish tied for eighth at the Thunderbird Invitational, played at the par-71, 7,017-yard Karsten Golf Course.

Benedetti, a sophomore from Huntington Beach, Calif., earned his best finish as a Duck, finishing at 4-under 209 for the three-round event. His previous best finish was a tie for 10th at the 2005 Prestige.

As a team, Oregon finished 14th.

Arizona saw all five players shoot under par Sunday to come from nine strokes back and win the tournament. Henry Liaw and Brian Prouty each had 67s, Travis Esway and Josh Esway each carded 69s and Nathan Tyler shot a 70.

The Wildcats finished with an 830 total, one shot better than No. 7 Nevada-Las Vegas and five strokes ahead of No. 22 San Diego State and Kansas State.

Kansas State's Ben Kern fired his second straight 65 to win medalist honors at 199. Liaw finished second at 202, while Prouty was right behind in third at 205.

The Ducks shot a 294 Sunday and fell one spot in the final standings with an 877 total.

Oregon returns to action next weekend at Stanford's U.S. Intercollegiate.

Thunderbird Invitational
Karsten Golf Course
Tempe, Ariz.
Final Round
7,017-yards, Par 71

Team Standings - 1, Arizona, 278-280-272-830. 2, Nevada-Las Vegas, 279-270-282-831. 3 (tie), San Diego State, 277-272-286-835; Kansas State, 287-271-277-835. 5, Stanford, 283-276-279-838. 6, Arizona State, 283-277-281-841. 7, Illinois, 285-282-287-854. 8, Central Florida, 291-290-280-861. 9, Colorado State, 283-297-283-863. 10, California, 287-285-292-864. 11, South Carolina, 288-289-292-869. 12, Texas Tech, 284-289-298-871. 13, Arkansas, 294-293-286-873. 14, Oregon, 294-289-294-877. 15, Penn State, 302-300-307-909.

Top 10 Individuals - 1, Ben Kerns, Kansas State, 69-65-65-199. 2, Henry Liaw, Arizona, 66-69-67-202. 3, Brian Prouty, Arizona, 70-68-67-205. 4, Rob Grube, Stanford, 71-67-68-206. 5, Aaron Goldberg, San Diego State, 70-65-72-207. 6 (tie), Niklas Lemke, Arizona State, 67-69-72-208; David Palm, San Diego State, 70-66-72-208. 8 (tie), Joey Benedetti, Oregon, 72-68-69-209; Andres Gonzales, Nevada-Las Vegas, 71-68-70-209; Blake Trimble, Nevada-Las Vegas, 69-70-70-209.

Other Oregon Results - 56 (tie), Gregg LaVoie, 74-72-75-221. 61 (tie), Justin St. Clair (I), 73-77-73-223. 65 (tie), Derek Sipe, 77-73-75-225. 72 (tie), Chris Dukeminier, 77-76-75-228. 78 (tie), Dustin Pewarchuk, 71-83-78-232.

(I) - competing as an individual

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