University of Oregon
Oregon Duck Invitational
Benedetti, Oregon Second at Duck Invitational
03/25/08 | Men's Golf
CRESWELL, Ore. ? Senior Joey Benedetti led host Oregon on a charge during the final round of the 20th annual Oregon Duck Invitational Tuesday at Emerald Valley Golf Club, but it wasn't enough to overcome San Diego State, which won Oregon's tournament for the fourth time since 2001.
The Ducks settled for a second place tie with Oregon State, while Bendetti took second alone, his best finish as a collegian.
In the individual race, T.J. Bordeaux of Pacific made his back-to-back rounds of 68 stand up with a 74 in the final round. Despite finishing plus-2 on Tuesday, Bordeaux, a freshman from Tacoma, Wash., was never really challenged for medalist honors, winning by five strokes at 6-under 210.
Benedetti collected his best finish at Oregon by shooting a 1-under 71 that saw him play the back nine in six strokes under par Tuesday. He finished the tournament at 1-under 215, joining Bordeaux as the only golfers to finish in the red numbers at the par-72, 7,093 Emerald Valley course.
SDSU also held on to their second round lead, shooting 4-over 292 to defeat Oregon and OSU by 11 shots. The Aztecs finished at 9-over 873 and added the 2008 Duck Invitational title to their trophies in 2001, 2004 and 2006. SDSU joined Oregon and Washington as the only four-time winners of the event.
The Beavers caught Oregon for second with the low round of the day, a 290. Oregon shot 294 as the two rivals finished tied at 884. It was the best finish of the season for the Ducks, and their seventh top-four showing of the 2007-08 season. Arkansas and Pacific tied for fourth at 886, with Washington sixth at 892.
"For the tournament, we played pretty well," said Oregon coach Casey Martin. "We're a decent team and we're on the verge of perhaps becoming a pretty good team, but we're not quite there yet.
"My congratulations to San Diego State; that is a very good team and we thank them for coming to our tournament year after year," said Martin. "And T.J. Bordeaux, well he's going to win a lot more tournaments in his career. He's a pretty special player and just tore up the golf course (Monday)."
In addition to Benedetti, Oregon got top-20 finished from senior Derek Sipe, who tied for 15th at 222, and freshman Jack Dukeminier, who tied for 20th at 223. Also tying for 20th was senior Ted Whitney. Competing as an individual, the senior from Eugene, Ore., closed with an even-par 72.
Final round play was delayed 1:20 due to a fog delay at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. One the fog lifted, play began under cool, but mostly sunny conditions
Oregon Duck Invitational
Emerald Valley Golf Course
Creswell, Ore.
7,073-yards, par-72
Final Round
Team Scores
1, San Diego State, 292-289-292-873.
T2, Oregon, 298-292-294-884; Oregon State, 299-295-290-884. T4 Pacific, 285-301-300-886; Arkansas, 296-297-293-886. 6, Washington, 304-291-297-892. 7, Portland, 299-298-300-897. T8, Idaho, 296-304-299-899; Washington State, 309-285-305-899. 10, UC Davis, 297-295-309-901. 11, Northern Colorado, 333-313-312-958.
Top Individuals
1, T.J. Bordeaux, Pacific, 68-68-74-210.
2, Joey Benedetti, Oregon, 73-71-71-215. 3, Aaron Goldberg, San Diego State, 71-70-75-216. 4, Tyler Simpson, Oregon State, 74-73-70-217. T5, James Allenby, Oregon State, 74-74-71-219; Johan Carlsson, San Diego State, 74-73-72-219; Colter Kautzmann, Idaho, 73-72-74-219; Vincent Johnson (I), Oregon State, 76-68-75-219. T9, Nick Ellis, Washington State, 78-69-73-220; John Wise, Washington, 74-74-71-220.
Other Oregon Individuals
T15, Derek Sipe, 75-72-75-222. T20, Jack Dukeminier, 76-74-73-223; Ted Whitney (I), 76-76-72-223. T25, Eric Grimberg (I), 77-71-77-225; Jordan Sweet (I), 76-75-74-225. T33, Isaiah Telles, 74-77-75-226. T46, Sean Maekawa, 78-75-78-231. T50, Zeke Reyna (I), 74-82-76-232. T57, Matt Jacobsen (I), 79-77-82-246.
(I) - Competing as an individual.
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