Benedetti Leads Oregon at Pac-10 Championships

FAIRFAX, Calif. ? A promising third round melted away on the final four holes as Oregon slipped to ninth after three rounds of the 49th annual Pac-10 men's golf championships, being played at the par-71, 6,686 yard Meadow Club.

At one point on Tuesday, the Ducks were as high as fifth, but Oregon played its last four holes 15 strokes over par to shoot a 19-over 374 on the day and fall to ninth place at 1096.

Senior Joey Benedetti led the Ducks on Tuesday, shooting a 2-over 72. He and fellow senior Derek Sipe, who had a 75, were tied for 20th at 8-over 218. Isaiah Telles struggled with a 79 in the third round and was tied for 24th overall at plus-9, while Sean Maekawa shot a 74 and was tied for 30th at 221.

USC and Arizona State asserted themselves in the team race. The Trojans took the lead by two shots over ASU, firing a 2-over 357 to stand at 4-over 1069 after three rounds. The Sun Devils kept pace with a 1-over 356 that left them two strokes back of USC.

California was third at 1079, followed by UCLA at 1081 and Stanford at 1087. Oregon State and Washington led the second five at 1094, followed by Arizona (1095), the Ducks and Washington State (1126).

The individual race continued to be tight with Kevin Chappell of UCLA emerging from Tuesday's action with a one-shot lead. Chappell carded an even-par 71 and was at 3-under 209 for the tournament. He had a stroke on five players tied at 2-under 210: James Byrne of Arizona State, George Gandranata of California, Matthew Giles of USC, Rob Grube of Stanford and Creighton Honeck of Arizona.

Wednesday's final round begins at 8 a.m. Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com.

Pac-10 Championships

The Meadow Club

Fairfax, Calif.

6,686-yards, par-71

Third Round

Team Scores

1, USC, 338-374-357-1069. 2, Arizona State, 354-361-356-1071. 3, California, 346-362-371-1079. 4, UCLA, 348-361-372-1081. 5, Stanford, 350-357-380-1087. T6, Washington, 357-367-370-1094; Oregon State, 354-366-374-1094. 8, Arizona, 354-360-381-1095. 9, Oregon, 359-363-372-1096. 10, Washington State, 369-380-377-1126.

Top Individuals

1, Kevin Chappell, UCLA, 70-68-71-209. T2, James Byrne, Arizona State, 71-72-67-210; George Gandranata, California, 69-70-71-210; Matthew Giles, USC, 69-70-71-210; Rob Grube, Stanford, 70-68-72-210; Creighton Honeck, Arizona, 69-69-72-210. 7, Tze Huang Choo, Washington, 67-71-73-211. T8, James Allenby, Oregon State, 68-71-73-212; Jesper Kennegard, Arizona State, 67-73-72-212; Jamie Lovemark, USC, 66-75-71-212.

Other Oregon Individuals

T20, Joey Benedetti, 73-73-72-218; Derek Sipe, 70-73-75-218. T24, Isaiah Telles, 67-73-79-219. T30, Sean Maekawa, 74-73-74-221. T34, Jack Dukeminier, 77-71-74-222. T55, Eric Grimberg, 75-78-79-232.

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