Oregon Set for NCAA Men's Golf Regional
Oregon seeks a return trip to the NCAA Championships when it takes to the course at the NCAA’s Lake Merced Regional Thursday through Saturday in Daly City, Calif. The Ducks received the No. 6 seed to the regional. The top five teams from Lake Merced will advance to the NCAA Championships May 27-30 in Toledo, Ohio. Oregon will tee off at 8:50 a.m. along with UC Davis and San Diego State from hole No. 10.
THE GOLF COURSE
Lake Merced Golf Club plays to a length of 6,863 yards with a par of 72. It was built in 1922 by Willie Lock and then redesigned in 1929 by fabled golf architect Alister MacKenzie. When nearby Interstate 280 was constructed in the early 1960’s, the club retained Robert Muir Graves to reroute the course as necessary to create the basis of today’s championship layout. Then the golf course underwent a major renovation in 1996 under the direction of Rees Jones.
RESULTS
Live scoring will be provided by Golfstat and available on the web (www.golfstat.com). Results, tee times, quotes, recaps and more will be posted by the host institution, the University of San Francisco, http://www.usfdons.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/042009aaa.html.
OREGON STARTERS
Name Yr. Stk. Avg. Low Rd Hi Fsh Hometown (High School)
Jack Dukeminier So.-2V 73.7 68 2 Eugene, Ore. (Sheldon)
Daniel Miernicki Fr.-1V 72.5 67 T3 Santee, Calif. (Central Catholic)
Isaiah Telles So.-2V 73.8 69 T9 Tualatin, Ore. (Tualatin)
Eugene Wong Fr.-1V 73.2 68 T4 North Vancouver, B.C. (Handsworth Sec.)
Robbie Ziegler Fr.-1V 72.9 69 T2 Canby, Ore. (Canby)
THE FIELD
No. 3 USC received the No. 1 seed at Lake Merced, followed by No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 15 Arizona State, No. 22 San Diego State and UC Davis. Oregon led the second five, with New Mexico, Colorado, UC Irvine, Kansas State, Oregon State, San Diego and host San Francisco rounding out the 13-team field. There are also 10 individuals in the tournament.
REFORMATTED
The NCAA changed the regional format this season, expanding the number from three to six regional tournaments held around the country, but kept the overall number of teams in the postseason relatively unchanged. The new format means fewer teams from the same conference will go head to head at regional tournaments.
HEAD COACH CASEY MARTIN
In just his third year at the helm, head coach Casey Martin has the Ducks headed to the NCAA Regionals for the second straight year. The Eugene, Ore., native, former PGA Tour professional and NCAA Champion at Stanford guided Oregon to the 2008 NCAA Championships for the first time since 2003. Martin has led the Ducks to 19 top-five finishes in his first 38 tournament as head coach.
FRESHMEN POWER, PART 2
For the second straight year, Oregon advanced to the NCAA Regional playing three freshmen. Daniel Miernicki leads the team with a 72.5 stroke average, while fellow freshman Robbie Ziegler is second at 72.9 and yet another freshman, Eugene Wong, is third at 73.2. Last year, Oregon’s freshman trio was Jack Dukeminier, Sean Maekawa and Isaiah Telles. Dukeminier (73.7 scoring average) and Telles (73.8) are returning to the NCAA Regional as sophomores.
PAC-10 POWER
The Pac-10 produced half of the nation’s No. 1 seeds, with Washington receiving the No. 1 seed at Bowling Green, Ky., and Stanford earning the top spot at the Austin, Texas, regional in addition to USC. The other No. 1 seeds were Clemson (Galloway, N.J.), Georgia (Sorrento, Fla.) and Oklahoma State (Stillwater, Okla.). The Pac-10 received nine bids in all with UCLA getting the fourth seed in Bowling Green, California receiving the No. 6 seed in Austin and Arizona getting No. 6 seed in Sorrento, in addition to the four Pac-10 teams at Lake Merced, plus Stanford and Washington.
SHARING THE WEALTH
Each of Oregon’s five NCAA Regional competitors has led the Ducks at least once this season. Daniel Miernicki was the Ducks’ top golfer at the Pac-10 Championships (2nd), the Hilo Intercollegiate (T19th) and the Thunderbird Invitational (T3rd). Robbie Ziegler paced Oregon at the OSU Giustina Memorial (T4th) and Braveheart Classic (T2nd). Jack Dukeminier took the team’s top honors at the Duck Invitational (2nd) and the Husky Invitational (13th). Eugene Wong was tops at the OSU Giustina Memorial (T4th) and Isaiah Telles was No. 1 at the Pacific Invitational (T9th).
DUCKS HAVE BEST PAC-10 TOURNEY IN 12 YEARS
SEATTLE, Wash. -- Oregon couldn’t catch Washington, but the Ducks did more than enough to finish second for the school’s best finish at the Pacific-10 men’s golf championships in 12 years. The Ducks shot a 3-over 363 in the final round at the par 72, 6,836-yard Seattle Golf Club to easily hold off Arizona State for second place. It was the Ducks’ best league showing since finishing runner-up in 1997. Oregon had three individuals among the top 10. Daniel Miernicki tied for third with UCLA’s Erik Flores at 5-under 283. The freshman from Santee, Calif., closed with a 2-under 70 that included four birdies and two bogeys. Isaiah Telles and Eugene Wong tied for ninth at even par 288. Both shot 73s on Wednesday. Telles, a sophomore from Tualatin, Ore., had four birdies and five bogeys in the final round. Wong, a freshman from North Vancouver, B.C., had 15 pars to go along with a birdie and two bogeys. Host Washington closed the tournament by shooting an 8-under 352 that left them at 16-under 1424 in winning the Pac-10 title for the first time since 2005. Oregon was second at 2-over 1442, followed by Arizona State at 1456, Stanford at 1457 and Oregon State at 1464. UCLA led the second five at 1466, followed by California (1467), USC (1474), Arizona (1483) and Washington State (1524). Washington’s Darren Wallace rolled to the individual title with a final round 70 that left him at 11-under 277. The Huskies’ Nick Taylor was second at 281. In addition to the three individuals in the top 10, the Ducks also had Robbie Ziegler tied for 16th at 3-over 291. The freshman from Canby, Ore., closed with a 71. Sophomore Jack Dukeminier tied for 36th at 298, while freshman Andrew Vijarro tied for 49th at 303.
Pacific-10 Championships
Seattle Golf Club
Seattle, Wash.
6,836-yards, par-72
Final Round
Team Scores
1, Washington, 365-360-347-352-1424. 2, Oregon, 366-363-350-363-1442. 3, Arizona State, 375-362-356-363-1456. 4, Stanford, 366-371-359-361-1457. 5, Oregon State, 364-371-361-368-1464. 6, UCLA, 371-378-365-352-1466. 7, California, 372-369-363-363-1467. 8, USC, 371-374-366-363-1474. 9, Arizona, 374-375-367-367-1483. 10, Washington State, 390-378-370-386-1524.
Top Individuals
1, Darren Wallace, Washington, 70-72-65-70-277. 2, Nick Taylor, Washington, 76-70-67-68-281. T3, Erik Flores, UCLA, 73-73-70-67-283; Daniel Miernicki, Oregon, 74-69-70-70-283. 5, John Murphy, California, 69-74-69-72-284. T6, Tarquin MacManus, Arizona, 77-68-69-71-285; Paul Peterson, Oregon State, 71-73-72-69-285. 8, Tze Huang Choo, Washington, 73-74-68-72-287. T9, Isaiah Telles, Oregon, 74-71-70-73-288; Eugene Wong, Oregon, 71-74-70-73-288.
Other Oregon Individuals
T16, Robbie Ziegler, 72-75-73-71-291. T36, Jack Dukeminier, 78-74-70-78-298. T49, Andrew Vijarro, 75-80-70-78-303.
2008 NCAA REGIONAL: BENEDETTI BECOMES FIRST NCAA CHAMP
Joey Benedetti shot his third straight 3-under 69 May 17 to win the NCAA West regional by four strokes as the 16th-seeded Ducks finished second and earned a bid to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2003. Benedetti became the first Oregon golfer to medal at the NCAA West Regional, finishing at 9-under 207. For the third straight day, the senior from Huntington Beach, Calif., had four birdies, a bogey and 13 pars. He birdied No. 6, No. 9, No. 11 and No. 14 at the par-72, 7,111-yard Gold Mountain Golf Club. Benedetti beat three golfers tied for second at 5-under 211: Rory Hie of USC, Nick Taylor of Washington and Michael McRae of Saint Mary’s to earn his first career victory at Oregon. As a team, Oregon shot a 3-under par 285 and finished two strokes behind top seeded USC for first place. The Trojans had an even-par 288 final round and finished the tournament at 2-under 862. The NCAA West regional was an historic one for the school. Benedetti became the first Duck to claim medalist honors and the second-place finish was the highest for Oregon. The Ducks’ previous high finish was a tie for fifth in 1999, while the high individual was Ben Crane’s runner-up effort in 1998.
