The Oregon men’s golf team tees off Monday in Walla Walla, Wash., for the 2005 Pacific-10 Conference Championships, marking the start of postseason play for the Ducks, whose NCAA Regional aspirations hinge heavily on their outing at the tournament.
The Ducks are looking to earn a ticket to the NCAA Regional tournament, which begins May 19. If they continue their formidable game play at the championships, Oregon head coach Steve Nosler believes his squad has little to worry about with regard to continuing its season after Wednesday.
“If we finish fifth or sixth with the way we’ve played this spring, I don’t see any way the committee can leave us out,” Nosler said. “We’ve got to keep playing just like we have been so we can finish ahead of some schools.”
Oregon’s lineup features the same five golfers who have been the backbone of the Ducks’ late-season turnaround. Oregon is riding momentum following four straight top-seven finishes, including a team title at the Western Intercollegiate in March. There is, however, one alteration being made to Oregon’s lineup: Along with alI other teams in the competition, the Ducks will include a sixth golfer to compete by way of the tournament’s unique format. Only five scores can be recorded by each squad, leaving the highest to be thrown out.
Nosler has called upon Kyle Johnson, a junior from North Bend, to fill Oregon’s vacancy. Johnson will be joined by the usual suspects — sophomores Matt Ma and Jay Snyder, and juniors Gregg LaVoie, Chris Dukeminier and Justin St. Clair. Ma (72.9) and LaVoie (73.5) lead the team in scoring averages and occupy the No. 1 and
2 spots on the roster, respectively.
Fourteenth-ranked Southern California enters the tournament as the
highest ranked team in the Pac-10 and will most likely battle No. 16 UCLA,
No. 17 Arizona State and No. 24 Arizona, the defending champions, in a close race for the team title.
— Scott J. Adams