The Oregon men’s golf team improved its scores in the last two rounds of the NCAA West Regional at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz., but it wasn’t nearly enough to take the Ducks to the next level. The 20th-seeded Ducks finished the tournament in 19th place, 37 strokes behind team champions South Carolina and 18 shots from a top ten finish and a spot in the NCAA Championships.
Oregon entered Friday’s second round in 23rd after a disappointing four-over-par first round. Juniors Joey Benedetti and Zeke Reyna set the tone for their Friday rounds early as both were three under par on the front nine. Their final nines also mirrored each other. Two birdies and a bogey meant that both ended the day with four-under 68s. Senior Matt Ma also came out on fire in the afternoon sun, reeling off five birdies before making the turn. He cooled off on the back nine, sprinkling two more birdies in with five bogeys for a two-under round overall.
Oregon’s two top finishers from Thursday, Derek Sipe and Ted Whitney, rounded out the scoring with three-over-par 75s. Sipe was undone by a triple bogey on the 16th hole, while Whitney bogeyed 16, 17 and 18.
Ma continued his hot start to the tournament on the final day, picking up five birdies on the way to a four-under round. The only blemish was a bogey on the 18th hole, the highest average score relative to par for the tournament. Sipe endured another roller coaster round on Saturday. At three over par after his first two holes, Sipe birdied four of the next five before playing a more pedestrian second nine and finishing at one under par for the day.
Benedetti turned in another solid round, two birdies and two bogeys, for a par score for the day. He was the Ducks’ top finisher for the tournament, tied for 62nd at three under par. Whitney started his final round well with two birdies in his first four holes only to suffer consecutive bogeys followed by two more on his second nine. The Eugene native needed a birdie on his last hole to salvage a one-over 73.
Reyna appeared to be heading for a respectable day as well, shooting even par after 15 holes. The Southern Mississippi University transfer went bogey, bogey, triple bogey to end his round and finished at five over for the day.
At the top of the leaderboard, No. 11 seed South Carolina chased down third-seeded UCLA to capture the title by two strokes and set a school record in the process.
“The guys were focused all week and nothing phased them,” South Carolina associate head coach Bill McDonald said in a release.
Five of the nine Pacific-10 Conference schools in the regional secured a bid to nationals, but the other team from Oregon was also left on the outside looking in. Sitting in seventh place entering the final round, Oregon State shot five under par on Saturday, not enough to avoid a five-hole playoff with Wake Forest and East Tennessee State. The Beavers managed even par in the playoff, but were edged by one stroke.
“It’s an unfortunate way to end the season, but we had a great season and a great opportunity to compete at the national championships,” Oregon State coach Brian Watts said in a release.