UO Men?s Golf Hits Links at Stanford
EUGENE, Ore. ? The Oregon men’s golf team enters its most important tournament of the season Saturday and Sunday at the U.S. Intercollegiate. The Ducks need to finish higher than a handful of teams from the West Coast who will be competing at the U.S. Intercollegiate in order to keep alive their hopes for an eighth straight NCAA Regional bid.
The top 12 teams in the West receive automatic bids to the postseason and currently, the Ducks are one of several squads fighting for the last three spots to the May 20-22 NCAA West Regional at Sunriver, Ore. The group Oregon would like to finish above at Stanford includes UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Long Beach State, Oregon State, Pacific, San Jose State and Washington State.
"We need to beat all of those teams to give ourselves a chance at the regional," said Oregon coach Steve Nosler. "And we need to understand that if we make good shots and keep the ball in play, we should be able to do that. It still may not be enough, but we will certainly do everything we can to at least have a chance."
The remainder of the field includes No. 3 UCLA, No. 7 Texas, No. 17 California, Fresno State, Portland, San Diego, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Stanford. Teams will play 36 holes Saturday and 18 Sunday on the par-71, 6,835-yard Stanford Golf Course.
Oregon will send senior Mike Sica, sophomores Justin St. Clair (Springfield, Ore.), Kyle Johnson (North Bend, Ore.) and Gregg LaVoie and freshman Matt Ma to the U.S. Intercollegiate. Sica is coming off back-to-back below par tournaments for the first time in his career.
"Mike has played well at Stanford in the past and is usually very comfortable on that golf course," said Nosler of the San Francisco, Calif., native. "I also think he understands that it’s becoming do-or-die time for him as a senior and his play of late has reflected that."
Last year, Oregon finished fifth at the U.S. Intercollegiate, shooting an 856 that was 16 strokes back of tournament winner UCLA. Sica tied for 34th at 5-over 218, while LaVoie tied for 39th at 219.
- www.GoDucks.com -
