The Oregon men’s golf team ended their season with a tie for 27th place at the NCAA Championships Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind. at Purdue University’s Kampen Course.
The third round was scheduled to be completed Friday, but thunderstorms forced the Ducks to finish the final holes of their round on Saturday morning.
“Playing a short round was a little different … you didn’t have much time to find your rhythm,” Oregon freshman Jack Dukeminier said in an Oregon press release. “I’ve never been pulled off a course, so for it to happen twice yesterday (because of the storm) was a little different, but that didn’t affect our scores.”
Dukeminier and senior Joey Benedetti paced the Ducks with final round scores of 77 and finished tied for 72nd (74-80-77-231) and 134th places overall (90-74-77-241). As a squad, the Ducks (315-304-316) tied with Mississippi State for 27th place at 935, and were 22 strokes shy of the 15-team cut that advanced to Saturday afternoon’s fourth and final round.
“I played OK today and yesterday and made a few good putts,” Benedetti said. “The rains changed the greens a little this morning since they couldn’t mow it – they were a little slow and softer, but overall pretty good. It’s a longer course, especially when you get off the fairways and have to start hacking.”
The tournament marked the end of Benedetti’s college career, but he leaves with a spot in the Oregon record books with his single-round best of 65 in the ASU Thunderbird Invitational in April 2007 – fifth-best all-time in school history – and as the program’s first-ever medalist in the NCAA Regionals. He entered the NCAA Championships ranked 109th nationally on the GolfWeek individual rankings (71.82), followed by senior Derek Sipe (195th, 72.36) and Dukeminier (257th, 72.74).
“This is the tournament you always dream of playing, so I couldn’t ask for a better place to end my collegiate career,” Benedetti said. “Coach (Casey Martin) has been a great mentor in many ways, and has helped with mechanics and teaching us how to handle the ups and downs. I’m proud of the team, and how we came together to earn a trip here.”
Dukeminier, a product of Eugene’s Sheldon High School, led the Ducks twice in scoring during his freshman campaign in the Arizona State at Oregon State-hosted events. At season’s end, he posted the best stroke average among Oregon freshmen (73.6) and had a low round of 68.
“Despite the overall score, this was a great experience,” Dukeminier said. “I felt pretty confident after the fall, but in the spring we were exposed to a few more challenging courses and conditions – that was good and probably humbled me a little. Coach helped me a lot this year, including working on my mental game and helping better decide when to go at pins and when not.”
Other Ducks that competed Saturday included senior Derek Sipe (113th-tie, 80-74-82-236) and freshmen Sean Maekawa (133rd, 78-82-80-240) and Isaiah Telles (134th-t, 83-76-82-241).
“This will be a great experience for the team, especially for the freshmen who learned a great deal,” coach Casey Martin said. “This is an important stepping stone for the program’s future. We want to be a national level program, and the freshmen can come back with a better idea of what it takes. This course was not easy, but it was important for the guys to play it and learn how important it is to concentrate on each hole. We accomplished a goal to get here, and now there’s more for these guys to achieve next year. They can help next year’s freshman class be ready to aim higher.”
[email protected]