NCAA Men's Golf West Regional Notes: Round 3

May 17, 2008

Oregon senior Joey Benedetti won the NCAA West Regional with a 9-under 207 (69-69-69). This is the first collegiate tournament win for Benedetti and the first NCAA West Regional title for any Oregon golfer. Previously, Benedetti's best collegiate finish is a second-place showing at the 2008 Duck Invitational in March. Benedetti shot three bogeys during the tournament (one each day), nine birdies (three each day) and shot par for the other 39 holes (13 each day). Before today, Oregon's best individual showing at the NCAA Regional was Ben Crane's runner-up effort in 1998.

Oregon's second-place finish with an even-par 284 was the best team finish for the Ducks in school history. Their previous best was a fifth-place tie in 1999.

The last time Oregon qualified for the NCAA Championships, was also the last time the regional was held in Washington (2003 at Auburn's Washington National).

This is the first NCAA Regional win for USC.

USC has won three of their last four events and their fourth win in the past six events, including a playoff loss at the Pac-10 Championships. In the last 10 events, USC has not finished lower than fourth place.

USC's Rory Hie finished in a tie for second place with, notching his seventh top-10 finish and seventh round in 60s this year (after posting a 3-under 69 today). Teammate Tom Glissmeyer posted his third-straight top-6 finish with a 3-under 213 tie for sixth place.

Nick Taylor's second place finish is a Washington record. The previous top finish was a third-place showing by Zach Bixler at the 2006 NCAA West Regional. Taylor, who finished with a three-round total of 5-under to tie for second place notched a 1-under 71 today, despite hitting his tee shot on par 3 hole 16 into the water. Taylor was able to hit his ball out of the water onto the edge of the green (while his coaches were there overseeing the process). Still off the green he was able to chip in from there to save par.

With its fourth-place finish, Washington has finished fourth or higher at NCAA Regionals three times in the last four years. The Huskies finished third in 2005 and 2006. Their only regional title came in 2002. UW has qualified for its ninth NCAA Championship appearance in the last 10 years.

Stanford's Sihwan Kim tied the tournament low round score of 4-under 68 today. Clemson's Phillip Mollica and Wisconsin's Dan Woltman both shot a 4-under 68 in round two on Friday.

San Diego State shot a low round 5-under 283 to tie Pepperdine and Texas for ninth place and force a playoff to determine which two teams would advance to the NCAA Championships. SDSU's 283 matches USC's second round score, the low round of the tournament, led by Johan Carlsson's two birdies. Texas and San Diego State advanced after a five-hole playoff at 2-under, Pepperdine was eliminated with an even-par.

Pepperdine's Eric Shriver finished in a tie for 11th place at even-par 216 to qualify for the NCAA Championship as an individual. He was the highest finisher on a team that did not qualify for NCAAs.

TThree golfers on teams that did not qualify for the team championship finished in a tie with a 2-over 218 (18th place): Troy Merritt (Boise State), Tyler Obermueller (Wisconsin), and Dan Woltman (Wisconsin). They played a sudden death play-off to determine which golfer would be the second to advance to the NCAA Championships as an individual. Woltman won the playoff by chipping in for eagle on the par-5 hole 9. Last year, Dan Woltman competed at the NCAAs as an individual, when he was the first Wisconsin golfer to qualify since 1994. At the 207 the NCAA Championship, Woltman missed the cut to make it to the final day of competition.

Two unseeded teams advanced to the NCAA Championships from the West Regional: Washington and Saint Mary's (Calif.). The Huskies finished in fourth place with a 10-over 874, while the Gaels took seventh place with a 20-over 884.

NCAA West Regional participants Arizona State and UCLA are ranked #4 in the country in current NCAA Championship qualifying streaks. The Sun Devils and Bruins have both qualified for six consecutive NCAA Championships.
Rk., School, Years, Current Streak
1. Oklahoma State, 1947-2008, 62
2. Georgia, 1998-2008, 11
3. Florida, 2001-2008, 8
T4. Arizona State, 2003-2008, 6
T4. UCLA, 2003-2008, 6
Note: Arizona (21 years from 1987-2007 and Georgia Tech (10 years from 1998-2007) did not advance to NCAA Championships this year.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES: ASU had made 15 NCAA Championship
appearances in Randy Lein's 16 years (1993-2008), tied for the second-best mark in the nation with Arizona and Florida.

MOST NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES (1993-2008)
Oklahoma State-16
Arizona State, Arizona, Florida-15
Clemson-14
Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Wake Forest-13

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NCAA Men's Golf West Regional Notes: Round 3

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