UO Men?s Golf Faces Top Competition at ASU Thunderbird Invitational
EUGENE, Ore. ? The Oregon men’s golf team will face eight top 25 teams at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational as it attempts to secure an NCAA Regional bid Friday and Saturday at the par-72, 7,037-yard Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
No. 7 Arizona State, the host team, leads the field that also includes No. 10 Arizona, No. 13 Nevada-Las Vegas, No. 14 Brigham Young, No. 15 USC, No. 16 California, No. 21 New Mexico and No. 22 Washington. The seven unranked teams are Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Stanford, Texas-El Paso and Texas Tech. Teams will play two rounds on Friday and one on Saturday.
With three events left before NCAA Regional selections are made, the Ducks have some work to do. The top 12 teams in the West Region receive automatic bids to the May 20-22 Regional at Sunriver, Ore., and currently, Oregon is on the outside looking in. The Ducks are in a battle with a handful of teams -- Stanford, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UC Riverside, New Mexico State, Pacific, Oregon State and Washington State -- for the final four regional spots. Oregon has made a school record seven straight NCAA Regional appearances dating back to 1997.
"We would probably be one of the last teams out right now," said Oregon coach Steve Nosler. "But we still have the opportunity to play ourselves into the regional. Any team we beat that is ranked ahead of us will help."
The Ducks have some momentum heading to Tempe after taking second at the March 22-23 Duck Invitational that included the team’s lowest round of the season, a 12-under 276.
Oregon will be led by it hottest golfers of the spring, freshman Dustin Pewarchuk and sophomore Justin St. Clair. Pewarchuk has a 72.4 stoke average in three tournaments this spring, while St. Clair, from Springfield, Ore., is averaging 72.9 strokes per round through four events. The Ducks will also send senior Mike Sica (74.2 spring average), freshman Matt Ma (75.1) and Kyle Johnson (73.7), the sophomore from North Bend, Ore., who returns to the top five for the first time since mid-February.
The Ducks finished 16th at last year’s ASU Thunderbird Invitational, shooting 859.
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