The No. 35 Oregon men’s golf team will begin competition at the 2009 NCAA West Regional tournament tomorrow afternoon at the Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, Calif. After finishing second in last week’s Pacific-10 Conference Championships, their best finish in 12 years, the Ducks received the No. 6 seed at the regional tournament.
Three Oregon golfers finished in the top 10 last week, with freshman Daniel Miernicki leading the way in a tie for third, while sophomore Isaiah Telles and freshman Eugene Wong tied for ninth.
Youth has been on the Ducks’ side all year long, and will continue to be a key factor as they take on some of the best competition in the nation this week. In addition to Miernicki, Telles and Wong, Oregon also will bring freshman Robbie Ziegler and sophomore Jack Dukeminier. Dukeminier, who has been up-and-down for the Ducks this spring, earned the fifth and final spot on the roster after defeating teammate Andrew Vijarro in a playoff-type scenario in practice this weekend.
“They’ve done awesome,” third-year head coach Casey Martin said. “They’re a great group who work hard and really support each other.”
Martin is no stranger to big tournaments himself. The South Eugene High School graduate was a three-time all-conference selection and a two-time All-American during his golfing career at Stanford University. He was a key member of the 1994 Stanford team that took home the NCAA Championship, and later became a member of the PGA Tour in 2000. So it comes as no surprise that Martin has been able to greatly help the Duck squad over the past few years, including their first trip to the NCAA Championships under Martin last spring – the first time since 2003.
“It’s pretty simple,” Martin said of the task ahead. “If we play well we’ll advance, and if we don’t, we won’t.”
“Being a part of his first recruiting class and his second year of coaching last year, I have seen how he handles different situations,” Telles said of Martin. “He is growing every week and becoming a better coach every month. Coach Martin strives to be a great coach, and I feel that in time, he will be.”
Oregon seems to be hitting its stride at just the right time, especially Miernicki. He finished in fifth place or better in three of Oregon’s last five tournaments, while leading the Ducks in average round scoring (72.5), as well as recording the lowest single-round score (67) of any Oregon player this season. After his impressive showing at the Pac-10 Tournament, Miernicki was named to the All-Pac-10 Second Team last week.
“It was really a surprise. I felt extremely honored.” Miernicki said. “I knew I had some high finishes in some pretty good tournaments, but I really felt as though all the hard work I put in over winter break had paid off.”
Miernicki commented that he struggled throughout the summer and into the fall before really finding his stroke again for the spring season.
“Casey really helped me out with my putting and short game,” he said. “My dad, who is my swing coach, really got my swing into form by working on some different things.”
But Miernicki is only one of the several talented freshmen on this year’s squad. According to Golfstat.com, the four freshmen – Miernicki, Wong, Ziegler and Vijarro – are the top-ranked freshmen class in all of Division I golf with an average round score of 73.21 strokes, with a relative strength score of 697.14 out of a possible 1,000. San Diego State University came in second, 157 points behind the Ducks. The only other Pac-10 school that was featured on the list was UCLA, in 18th.
“Robbie, Eugene and Andrew are three of my closest friends,” Miernicki said. “Our entire team is close … but the four freshmen have a very special bond.”
That’s not to say that the Pac-10 is weak – far from it.
Nine out of the 10 conference teams received regional tournament bids, while No. 3 USC, No. 4 Washington and No. 5 Stanford all received No. 1 seeds. The NCAA expanded the regional format from three to six regional tournaments this season, but kept the number of postseason teams relatively the same as 2008.
The 13-team field that Oregon will match up with will feature No. 3 USC, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 15 Arizona State, No. 22 San Diego State, UC Davis, New Mexico, Colorado, UC Irvine, Kansas State, Oregon State, San Diego and host San Francisco.
“We’ve had a great spring and I think it’s just the natural maturing process,” Martin said. “They’ve worked hard and are starting to find their niche. But it’s a whole new ball game this week.”
The team doesn’t have much experience at Lake Merced, but Martin believes the course’s structure could play into Oregon’s favor.
“I think it’s a good course for us. It’s really narrow and we’ve got to keep it in play,” said Martin.
The Ducks finished in second place at last year’s NCAA West Regional with then-senior Joey Benedetti taking home the individual title – the only Oregon player ever to do so – while the team finish was the highest in school history. Telles and Dukeminier each made the trip last spring, and will be the only two with regional experience on this year’s team.
“I feel that we are better than we were last year,” Telles concluded.
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