University of Oregon
NCAA West Regional
Benedetti Wins NCAA West Regional as Ducks Advance
05/18/08 | Men's Golf
BREMERTON, Wash. ? Joey Benedetti shot his third straight 3-under 69 Saturday to win the NCAA West regional by four strokes as the 16th-seeded Ducks finished second and earned a bid to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2003.
Benedetti became the first Oregon golfer to medal at the NCAA West Regional, finishing at 9-under 207. For the third straight day, the senior from Huntington Beach, Calif., had four birdies, a bogey and 13 pars. He birdied No. 6, No. 9, No. 11 and No. 14 at the par-72, 7,111-yard Gold Mountain Golf Club.
Benedetti beat three golfers tied for second at 5-under 211: Rory Hie of USC, Nick Taylor of Washington and Michael McRae of Saint Mary's to earn his first career victory at Oregon.
"It is unbelievable to get his first win at the NCAA regional, but Joey anchored us all week and he was really the most consistent golfer in the field," said Oregon coach Casey Martin. "I could not be happier for Joey. What a great performance."
As a team, Oregon shot a 3-under par 285 and finished two strokes behind top seeded USC for first place. The Trojans had an even-par 288 Saturday and finished the tournament at 2-under 862.
"We got off to a bit of a rocky start, but had an amazing back nine and almost caught USC," said Martin. "It was a tremendous week."
The Ducks were next at even-par 864, followed by Clemson at 867, Washington at 874 and UCLA at 876. The second five included Stanford at 878, Saint Mary's at 884, Arizona State at 885 and Pepperdine, Texas and San Diego State tied for ninth at 888.
The top 10 teams at Bremerton advanced to the NCAA Championships May 28-31 at Purdue.
On Saturday, the Ducks also got top-11 finishes from senior Derek Sipe and freshman Isaiah Telles.
Telles, from Tualatin, Ore., matched Benedetti's 3-under 69. He eagled No. 14 and had three birdies and a double bogey. Sipe, a senior from Yorba Linda, Calif., was one-over Saturday.
Both Telles and Sipe tied for 11th at even-par 216. It was the best career finish for Telles.
Oregon also counted a 74 from senior Jack Dukeminier. The freshman from Eugene, Ore., tied for 63rd at 227.
"Obviously Joey played great, but we got a lot from Sipe and Telles, who was outstanding considering this was his first NCAA experience," said Martin. "It all combined for a good feeling and a great week."
The NCAA West regional was an historic one for the school. Benedetti became the first Duck to claim medalist honors and the second-place finish was the highest for Oregon. The Ducks' previous high finish was a tie for fifth in 1999, while the high individual was Ben Crane's runner-up effort in 1998.
NCAA West Regional
Gold Mountain Golf Club
Bremerton, Wash.
7,111-yards, par-72
Final Round
Team Scores
1, USC, 291-283-288-862. 2, Oregon, 289-290-285-864. 3, Clemson, 295-285-287-867. 4, Washington, 291294-289-874. 5, UCLA, 291-294-291-876. 6, Stanford, 296-297-285-878. 7, Saint Mary's, 294-301-289-884. 8, Arizona State, 304-289-296-885. T9, Pepperdine, 292-301-295-888; Texas, 299-299-290-888; San Diego State, 302-303-283-888. 12, Texas Tech, 302-296-291-889. 13, Oklahoma, 306-289-297-892. 14, Wisconsin, 304-290-300-894. 15, North Carolina, 295-306-294-895. 16, Oregon State, 302-295-301-898. 17, Kentucky, 302-291-307-900. 18, Kansas State, 305-299-298-902. 19, Central Florida, 301-302-300-903. 20, California, 305-296-303-903. 21, Florida State, 304-305-305-914. 22, Louisiana State, 304-313-299-916. 23, Denver, 309-301-307-917. 24, Nevada-Las Vegas, 301-311-308-920. 25, San Diego, 308-311-309-927. 26, Navy, 312-309-310-931. 27, Columbia, 314-327-309-950.
Top Individuals
1, Joey Benedetti, Oregon, 69-69-69-207. T2 Rory Hie, USC, 72-70-69-211; Nick Taylor, Washington, 71-69-71-211; Michael McRae, Saint Mary's, 72-69-70-211. 5, Sihwan Kim, 73-71-68-212. T6, Tom Glissmeyer, USC, 72-71-70-213; Rob Grube, Stanford, 71-73-69-213; T8, Kevin Chappell, UCLA, 71-72-71-214; Erik Flores, UCLA, 73-70-71-214. 10, Aaron Goldberg, San Diego State, 73-73-69-215. T11, Derek Sipe, Oregon, 72-71-73-216; Isaiah Telles, Oregon, 71-76-69-216; Phillip Mollica, Clemson, 76-68-72-216; Sam Saunders, Clemson, 73-72-71-216; Eric Shriver, Pepperdine, 70-76-69-216.
Other Oregon Individuals
T63, Jack Dukeminier, 77-76-74-227. T122, Sean Maekawa, 80-74-82-236.
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Players Mentioned
