Thunderstorms Suspend NCAA Golf Day 3
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ? The No. 44 University of Oregon men’s golf team played a majority of its third round Friday before an afternoon thunderstorm system halted play in the third day of the 111th NCAA Championships.
The remaining third round holes will be played Saturday morning at 7 a.m. Eastern Time, and the five Duck players have 5-8 holes remaining. The top 15 teams after the conclusion of the third round will advance to the fourth and final round later Saturday morning.
As a team, UO stood 26th overall at Friday’s conclusion and was 20 shots over par. For comparison’s sake, Oregon posted scores of 16- and 27-over in the second and first rounds Thursday and Wednesday (304 / 315).
One of the last of the 30 teams to tee off Friday, the Ducks entered the day in a tie for 24th place with Virginia (619) and stood 25th after the first round (315) the prior day on Wednesday.
Individually on Purdue University’s par-72, 7,450-yard Kampen Course, senior Joey Benedetti and freshman Jack Dukeminier both stood at 3-over, followed by freshmen Sean Maekawa (6-over) and Isaiah Telles (8-over) and senior Derek Sipe (9-over).
In the overall standings, Sipe (80-74-154) and Benedetti (74-80-154) entered the day tied for 70th place overall, ahead of Telles (122nd-tie, 83-76-159), Maekawa (130th-tie, 78-82-160) and Dukeminier (147th, 90-74-164).
So far in the tourney, three Ducks share UO’s low round of the event ? a two-over 74. Sipe and Dukeminer carded the score Thursday, while Benedetti shot it the first day when winds and cool temperatures challenged competitors enough that he tied for 10th after one round.
Overall on the individual leaderboard, UCLA’s Kevin Chappell improved four spots Friday to move into the lead at 4-under (69-73-68-210). The Bruin carded the lowest score among those that completed all 18 holes in the third round, and was one of the day’s two under-par scores as winds picked up again at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.
Clemson’s Kyle Stanley and Washington’s Nick Taylor stood tied for second and followed four strokes back at 214. The day’s leader coming in, Florida’s Billy Horschel, dropped to fourth place (72-67-76-215).
Team-wise, half of the field finished its round, and No. 4 UCLA (first, 297-293-2998-888) climbed back ahead of the second round leader, No. 21 Clemson (second-tie, 301-288-302-891), who is now tied with No. 6 USC (297-294-300-891). No. 7 Stanford posted the day’s lowest score to move into fourth place (309-288-296-893), ahead of No. 5 Oklahoma State (fifth, 298-296-301-895).
Other Pac-10 schools in the field included Washington (ninth, 305-290-307-902) and Arizona State (21st-tie, 311-293-312-916) who both finished their rounds Friday.
Live video, hole-by-hole scores and regularly updated results each day from the tourney are available at the www.GolfStat.com website.
Live video webstreaming can be found on Saturday morning at the www.ncaasports.com website, with a direct link below at:
http://all-access.cstv.com/cstv/player/player.html?code=ncaa&sport=m-golf&category=Features%20%26%20Interviews%20%28MediaType%29&media=69351
More information on various NCAA Championships is available at the www.NCAAsports.com website.
Almost two weeks ago in the West Regional, the Ducks earned their first NCAA appearance since 2003 thanks to a second-place team finish (and 3-under 295) that was 14 places higher than their pre-tourney seeding (16th). In that same event, Benedetti became the program’s first ever regional champion and won by four strokes (9-under 207), and Telles and Sipe tied for 11th place (even-par 216). UO has enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent memory under the second-year mentor Martin, and has 11 top-five finishes in his first 26 tournaments as head coach.
This week’s appearance at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex course marks UO’s 22nd NCAA Championships invitation. The Ducks made their first trip in 1947 and finished 17th, and their highest placing came in 1959 (fourth). UO also staked top-10 finishes in 1977 and ’76 (seventh / 10th).
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