With three rounds down in the 2003 Pacific-10 Conference Championships, Oregon found itself in a position it didn’t want to be on Tuesday: worse than the day before.
The Ducks slipped one spot to seventh place after finishing the third round 48 over par at the 6,736-yard, par-72 Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, Calif. Oregon currently has a team score of 1,128, 47 strokes behind third-round leader No. 11 UCLA.
The only surprise for the day was freshman Gregg LaVoie’s impressive rise up the leaderboard. The freshman had started the day tied for 25th overall, but rode a one-over-par 73 to climb six spots on the day. LaVoie is tied with fellow teammate and senior John Ellis, who also had a major move on the day, but in the wrong direction. After an impressive two opening rounds on Monday, which placed the senior in a tie for 12th place, Ellis struggled with a 4-over 76 to slide seven spots.
Junior Jimmy White shot a 2-under-par 70 to finish the day tied at 21st overall, followed by senior Chris Carnahan at 28th overall. Redshirt freshman Kyle Johnson is currently tied for 40th overall, after shooting a third round 6-over, while junior Mike Sica shot a 9-over par, raising his three round total to 241.
No. 11 UCLA remained the team to beat Tuesday after posting a 5-under par third round, separating itself from the rest of the field. UCLA is also playing on one of its home courses in the biggest tournament of the year for any of the teams involved.
The Bruins’ closest competitor is the No. 6 Arizona Wildcats. However, UCLA would need a major meltdown to lose its 23 stroke lead heading into today’s fourth and final round. Stanford sits in third place, followed by No. 20 Washington and No. 16 Arizona State.
The Sun Devils recently won six-straight Pac-10 titles, a streak dating from 1995 to 2000. The Oregon State Beavers leapfrogged the Ducks in the standings, outshooting Oregon by five strokes to take a three-stroke lead into today’s finale.
Oregon is in a position to finish no worse than seventh overall, as the team currently holds a 13-stroke lead over its nearest competitor, the California
Golden Bears.
Leading the field individually is UCLA’s John Merrick and Stanford’s Jim Seki, both with 3-under 213s. Oregon State’s Cameron MacKenzie gave up the tournament lead Tuesday and now sits one stroke behind the co-leaders.
Oregon wraps up the Pac-10 Championships today, hoping to solidify a bid to the NCAA West Regional May 15-17 in Seattle.
Scott Archer is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.