The Oregon men’s golf team showed the good, the bad and the ugly that has characterized its season on the first day of the Pacific-10 Conference championships, played this year at the Eugene Country Club. The Ducks hung with some of the best teams in the nation for part of the day, but then took a few steps back in afternoon action. Oregon fell three spots in the afternoon, entering the third round tomorrow in sixth place. The Ducks ended the day a full 32 strokes behind the leader USC after being tied with the Trojans after the first round.
The Pac-10 tournament is designed to test the depth and consistency of the teams involved because of its expanded format. Instead of the usual structure in which teams take the best four scores from a team of five, the tournament counts five out of six scores. Teams will also play four rounds of golf in the three-day event, instead of the customary 54 holes. To add to the challenge, the Pac-10 field includes three teams ranked in the top 10 nationally.
The initial signs were all positive for the de facto home team. Junior Derek Sipe birdied the first hole of the tournament and stayed hot throughout the first round, scoring three additional birdies on the way to a three under 69. That score put the Oregon ace in a tie atop the individual leaderboard with Arizona State’s Niklas Lemke and USC’s Jamie Lovemark, rated the No. 2 and 5 players in the nation by the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. Junior Joey Benedetti also played solid golf to finish the morning round at one under, which put him in the top 10 overall at the break.
Zeke Reyna, Eric Hastings and Marcus Sostak turned in the other scoring rounds for the Ducks. The trio finished the morning in a tight grouping – Reyna and Hastings each entered the clubhouse at one over only to be bested by the freshman Sostak with a par 72. Senior Matt Ma had his first round, a five over 77, dropped from the team total. As a a team, the Ducks finished the first round tied for third place at two strokes under par.
As the temperature warmed up on the links, Oregon cooled down. Benedetti turned in what turned out to be one of the Oregon highlights of the afternoon, a solid 73. Sipe took a tumble down the standings thanks to a three-over front nine, which was also his score for the round. Benedetti and Sipe ended the day tied at 19th at even par overall. Hastings made a lot of marks on his scorecard, mixing bogeys and birdies and even an eagle to shoot one over. Sostak suffered some early bogeys and shot a 77 in the second round. Ma continued his struggles on the day with a 78.
Round three of the championship will be played tomorrow, with the final round on Wednesday. Play on each day begins at 8 a.m.
Women’s golf
The Oregon women had a much rougher time in the first round of the Pac-10 women’s championships, held at the Broadmoor Golf Course in Seattle. The Ducks finished the first 18 holes of the three-round tournament in a distant ninth place with an overall score of 36 over par. While good enough to finish the day in front of Oregon State, the Ducks’ effort on Monday leaves them with a big hill to climb. Oregon is seven strokes behind eighth place Washington State and 27 back of the leader, Arizona State.
Sophomore Cathryn Bristow turned in Oregon’s best effort of the day at four strokes over par, three shots better than the average score from the field. Bristow’s round featured three of the five birdies carded by the entire team on Monday. Playing in a second tournament since returning from a two-month wrist injury, Kim McCready finished her round at seven over par, a score that placed her in a tie for 23rd place. Felicia Eastick and Victoria Wenslow rounded out Oregon’s team score, shooting nine and 16 strokes over respectively. Kate Hildahl also made the trip, but struggled more than anyone, finishing the day with a forgettable 95.
Action continues through Wednesday with two more rounds of play.