Men?s Golf Swings Back into Spring at USC
EUGENE, Ore. ? The spring season goes into full swing for the Oregon men’s golf team, beginning with the 30th annual USC Collegiate Invitational, which opens play Monday at the par-71, 6,742-yard North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif.
The USC event will mark the first of six tournaments the Ducks will compete in during the months of March and April. Teams will play 36 holes Monday with a final 18 on Tuesday.
Oregon will send the same five golfers who have competed in the last five tournaments -- seniors Joey Benedetti and Derek Sipe and freshmen Jack Dukeminier, Sean Maekawa and Isaiah Telles. That group has led the Ducks an eighth-place finish or better in all six 2007-08 events.
Sipe, from Yorba Linda, Calif., has had the most success of any of the Oregon contingent at North Ranch, having tied for 27th as a sophomore, shooting a 9-over 222.
The Ducks, ranked No. 47 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin poll, will be facing three top-10 teams in No. 7 USC, No. 8 Stanford and No. 9 Tennessee. The rest of the field includes Brigham Young, California, Fresno State, Loyola Marymount, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Washington and a junior varsity team from UCLA.
Live scoring for the USC Collegiate Invitational will be available on line at www.golfstat.com.
- www.GoDucks.com -
