Oregon Men?s Golf Squeezes Into NCAA West Regional
EUGENE, Ore. ? By the skin of its teeth, the Oregon men’s golf team received a bid to the NCAA West Regional, to be contested May 19-21 at Stanford. But after missing the regional completely in 2004, no one is complaining.
"We’re just thrilled to be in the field at all," said Oregon coach Steve Nosler, following Monday’s announcement by the NCAA. "We were dead in the water in February, but played quite remarkably the last two months to even have a chance to get in."
Oregon received the No. 21 seed of 27 teams that will be competing next week at Stanford. The only at-large seed chosen below Oregon was No. 22 Denver. Seeds 23 through 27 were automatic berths given to conference champions, such as No. 24 Illinois State (Missouri Valley) and No. 26 Princeton (Ivy League). The top 10 teams from the West Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships June 1-4 in Baltimore, Md.
The Ducks qualified for seven straight regionals from 1997 through 2003, but failed to qualify last year. Overall, this will be Oregon’s 12th regional appearance since 1989. Oregon has advanced out of the regional to the NCAA Championships four times, most recently in 2003.
Nevada-Las Vegas was the West Regional’s top seed. Mountain West Conference champion New Mexico was the No. 2, followed by Auburn, Arizona State, UCLA, Arizona, Brigham Young, South Carolina, USC and Pac-10 champ Washington, respectively, in the first 10.
Louisiana State led the next 10, followed by West Coast Conference champion Pepperdine, San Diego State, Big West winner UC Riverside, Saint Mary’s, Stanford, Texas-Arlington (Southland Conference champ), Colorado State, Cal Poly and Fresno State.
Oregon was then followed by Denver and five conference champions: South Alabama (Sun Belt), Illinois State (Missouri Valley), Samford (Ohio Valley), Princeton (Ivy) and Central Connecticut State (Northeast).
"By the end of the regular season, we were beating a lot of the teams we’re seeded behind, but that’s alright," Nosler said. "In golf, seeding isn’t as important as how you play once you get in.
"At the same time, I’m certain our guys would like to show the selection committee that we’re a bit better than what they gave us credit for," Nosler said. "This isn’t a group of guys who will be content simply because they were invited to the regional."
The Ducks will be paired with Cal Poly and Fresno State for the first two rounds.
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