Benedetti and Dukeminier Lead Ducks in NCAA Golf Third Round

* Complete final results are available in the PDF LINKS box to the right.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ? In the final holes of the 111th NCAA Men's Golf Championships third round, No. 44 University of Oregon tied for 27th overall Saturday morning after a thunderstorm system halted play late Friday afternoon.

Senior Joey Benedetti and freshman Jack Dukeminier paced UO with final round scores of 77 and finished tied for 72nd (74-80-77-231) and 134th places overall (90-74-77-241). As a squad, the Ducks (315-304-316) tied with Mississippi State for 27th place at 935, and were 22 strokes shy of the 15-team cut that advanced to Saturday afternoon's fourth and final round.

Benedetti shot par on seven of Saturday's eight holes and the lone blemish a double-bogey on the par 5 sixth hole ? one of three holes that were 600 yards or longer on the on Purdue University's par-72, 7,450-yard Kampen Course. In Friday's opener which started on the 10th hole, he had birdies on holes 16 and 1, bogeys on 11, 17 and 18, and par scores on the rest.

“I played OK today and yesterday and made a few good putts,” Benedetti said. “The rains changed the greens a little this morning since they couldn't mow it ? they were a little slow and softer, but overall pretty good. I didn't drive as well as I needed to, especially when compared to the best players in the country. It's a longer course, especially when you get off the fairways and have to start hacking.”

The Huntington Beach, Calif., native and All-Pac-10 Second Team pick led the Ducks for the second time in the tourney's opening three rounds, and led UO in the overall final standings for the fifth time this year ? most on the team.

He also has a place in the Duck record books with his single round best of 65 in the ASU Thunderbird Invitational in April 2007 - fifth-best all-time in school history - and shot the same score again last fall in the Alister MacKenzie Invitational. He entered the NCAA Championships ranked 109th nationally on the GolfWeek individual rankings (71.82), followed by senior Derek Sipe (195th, 72.36) and Dukeminier (257th, 72.74).

“This is the tournament you always dream of playing, so I couldn't ask for a better place to end my collegiate career,” Benedetti said. “Coach (Casey Martin) has been a great mentor in many ways, and has helped with mechanics and teaching us how to handle the ups and downs. I'm proud of the team, and how we came together to earn a trip here. I still have some tournaments to look forward to in the summer, including the Sahalie Players in early July and the Western Amateur in Michigan.”

Dukeminier logged a birdie Saturday on the par 4 seventh hole, bogeys on the third and fifth holes, a double bogey on the par 5 sixth hole, and pars on the remaining holes.

“Playing a short round was a little different,” Dukeminier said, “and you didn't have much time to find your rhythm. I'm disappointed that I didn't play better overall in the tourney, and it's certainly an experience I'll learn from. This course makes you commit to every shot. You have to pick a particular point to aim for and not try to steer it a certain direction. Overall, I was happy that I made a lot of putts except for the one three-putt.”

Dukeminier carded UO's lowest score in the tourney in both the second and third rounds (74 /77). Earlier in the fall season, the freshman from Eugene, Ore., and Sheldon High School led the Ducks twice in the ASU (ninth, 69-72-73-214) at Oregon State-hosted events (third, 68-68-136). At season's end, he posted the top stroke average among UO's talented freshman class (73.6) and had a low round of 68.

“Despite the overall score, this was a great experience,” Dukeminier said. “I've never been pulled off a course, so for it to happen twice yesterday (because of the storm) was a little different. But, that didn't effect our scores, and we tried to make the best of it while we were waiting. It's hard to believe that the season is over, although I have a few more tournaments coming up at Royal Oaks next week, the Oregon Amateur later in June and then maybe the Oregon Stroke Play. I felt pretty confident after the fall, but in the spring we were exposed to a few more challenging courses and conditions ? that was good and probably humbled me a little. Coach helped me a lot this year, including working on my mental game and helping better decide when to go at pins and when not.”

Other Ducks that competed Saturday included senior Derek Sipe (113th-tie, 80-74-82-236) and freshmen Sean Maekawa (133rd, 78-82-80-240) and Isaiah Telles (134th-t, 83-76-82-241).

As a team, UO dropped a place into a tie for 27th place (315-304-316-935) from where it stood Friday night when play was suspended. For comparison's sake, Oregon posted scores of 16- and 27-over in the second and first rounds Thursday and Wednesday (304 / 315) and ranked 25th and 24th, respectively after each round, respectively, in the 30-team field.

“This will be a great experience for the team, especially for the freshmen who learned a great deal,” Oregon head coach Casey Martin said. “We were hoping to play better the last day, and this is an important stepping stone for the program's future. We want to be a national level program, and the freshmen can come back with a better idea of what it takes. This course was not easy, but it was important for the guys to play it and learn how important it is to concentrate on each hole. We accomplished a goal to get here, and now there's more for these guys to achieve next year. They can help next year's freshman class be ready to aim higher.”

During the tourney, three Ducks shared UO's low round of the event ? a two-over 74. Sipe and Dukeminer carded the score Thursday, while Benedetti shot it the first day when winds and cool temperatures challenged competitors enough that he stood tied for 10th place overall after one round.

Overall on the individual leaderboard Saturday, UCLA's Kevin Chappell held onto his third round lead to win by three strokes with a 2-under 286 (69-73-68-76-286) over Washington's Nick Taylor (second-tie, 75-66-73-75-289) and Indiana's Jorge Campillo (second-tie, 75-70-72-72-289).

Chappel held onto his lead from the end of the third round in which he improved four spots with his 6-under total (69-73-68-210). The Bruin carded the lowest score of the third round, and was one of only three under-par scores in the round as windy conditions continued to challenge 156 of the top collegians at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

Team-wise, No. 4 UCLA held on in the final round to barely win by one stroke (first, 297-293-298-306-1194) over No. 7 Stanford (second, 309-288-296-302-1195), while No. 6 USC took third place another stroke back (297-294-300-305-1196). No. 5 Oklahoma State followed in fourth place (298-296-301-305-1200). No. 21 Clemson, who had held the lead after two rounds, lost ground in both the third and fourth rounds to eventually place fifth (302-288-302-310-1201).

One other Pac-10 school played in the tourney ? No. 19 Arizona State (21st-tie, 311-293-312-916) ? and the Sun Devils dropped four places the third round to miss the final cut by three strokes.

Live hole-by-hole scores and final results from the tourney are available at the www.GolfStat.com website.

More information on various NCAA Championships is available at the www.NCAAsports.com website.

Two weeks ago in the West Regional, the Ducks earned their first NCAA appearance since 2003 thanks to a best-ever second-place team finish (289-290-285-864) that was 14 places higher than their pre-tourney seeding (16th) In that same event, Benedetti became the program's first ever regional champion and won by four strokes (9-under 207, 69-69-69), and Telles and Sipe tied for 11th place (even-par 216). UO has enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent memory under the second-year mentor Martin, and has 11 top-five finishes in his first 27 tournaments as head coach.

This week's appearance at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex course marked Oregon's 22nd NCAA Championships invitation. The Ducks made their first trip in 1947 and finished 17th, and their highest placing came in 1959 (fourth). UO also staked top-10 finishes in 1977 and '76 (seventh / 10th).