Men's Golf Travels to NCAA West Regional
WHAT’S ON TAP: Oregon travels to Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash., for the 2008 NCAA West Regional Thursday, May 15 through Saturday May 17. The Ducks received the region’s No. 16 seed. The course will play to a length of 7,111 yards with a par of 72. The top 10 teams (of 27), plus two individuals will advance to the NCAA Championships, May 28-31 at Purdue. Teams will play a single round each day for a 54-hole total with play opening at 7 a.m. each morning. Live Scoring is available at www.golfstat.com
OREGON IN THE NCAA REGIONAL: This is Oregon’s 15th NCAA Regional appearance in the last 20 years. In their previous 14 appearances, the Ducks have advanced to the NCAA Championships four times, most recently in 2003, when Oregon came into the tournament seeded 18th. Then-coach Steve Nosler led Oregon to its best ever finish in regional competition back in 1999, when the Ducks, led by current PGA Tour member Ben Crane (the 2003 BellSouth champion), tied for fifth at 875. Crane notched the highest finish in a regional by an Oregon golfer the previous year when he tied for second at 207 in 1998.
Joey Benedetti and Derek Sipe both played in last year’s West Regional, head at Arizona State’s Karsten Course. In what was their first NCAA regional experience, Benedetti tied for 62nd, while Sipe tied for 86th. As a team, the Ducks finished 19th.
THE FIELD: Eight Pac-10 teams and 10 of the nation’s top 30 (according to the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings) will be in competition at Gold Mountain. The field has four top-10 teams, including No. 3 USC, No. 4 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford and No. 10 Florida State. Oregon is ranked No. 54 this week. 16th-seeded Oregon will be paired with California and Saint Mary’s for the first two rounds. In round one, the Ducks will tee off No. 1 at 7 a.m. For the second round, Oregon will go off No. 10 at 12:12 p.m. Teams will be reseeded according to score for the final round.
LAST TIME AT GOLD MOUNTAIN: Freshmen helped Oregon finish fourth at the rain-shortened Husky Invitational last Oct. 1-2. The tournament was called after six golfers completed their second rounds the morning of Oct. 2. Golfers from Oregon, Oregon State and Washington, whose rounds were suspended by darkness the previous night, were able to complete their second rounds, and the final round got under way, but play was halted after 90 minutes due to rain and wind that ultimately forced the cancellation of the final 18 holes. James Allenby took medalist honors at 6-under 138 to lead Oregon State to the team title at 9-over 585. Washington was second at 592, with Pepperdine third at 595. The Ducks were a stroke back of the Waves, but managed beat California and San Diego State, which tied for fifth at 597, by a stroke. Oregon got strong performances from freshmen Jack Dukeminier, who tied for eighth at 2-over 146, and Sean Maekawa, who tied for 31st at 152. Both players shot even par in the second round to help Oregon climb from seventh place. Senior Joey Benedetti tied for 14th at 4-over 148 after finishing up with a final round 75. Allenby won the individual race by four strokes over Washington’s Zach Bixler.
