Men’s golf takes on Big Ten, Pac-10 Challenge
The Oregon men’s golf team finished 13th at the Big Ten/Pacific-10 Challenge in Glenview, Ill., Tuesday.
The Ducks (905) improved their score each day and finished 20 strokes behind Illinois for a top-10 placing.
Gregg LaVoie shot consecutive par rounds of 72 to finish tied for 18th. He began the final day in 41st but climbed into the top 20.
LaVoie has four top-25 finishes in his last five tournaments dating back to last season. The only blemish on that record is a 44th-place finish at last month’s Northwest Collegiate Classic in Corvallis in which he finished eight strokes out of the top 10.
LaVoie was one of three Ducks that qualified for the U.S. Amateur last August. Ted Whitney and Derek Sipe also earned the honor. LaVoie also earned All-America honors last season.
Oregon’s Matt Ma tied for 46th with 226 strokes, followed by teammates Joey Benedetti (tied for 53rd with 228), Sipe (tied for 60th with 233) and Jay Snyder (67th with 237).
Northwestern (860) defeated Minnesota, by three strokes to earn first place.
The Big Ten won its first in the series over the Pac-10 by 51 strokes. The top six team scores were added by each conference to determine the winner.
Other Pac-10 schools were Arizona State in third (865), UCLA fourth (868), Washington fifth (874), Arizona tied for seventh (885), USC 12th (899) and California 14th (920).
– Shawn Miller