The Oregon men’s golf team dropped one position in the team standings to No. 26 in Thursday’s second round of the NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. despite improved performances by three of the team’s five golfers.
Senior Derek Sipe joined senior Joey Benedetti at 10-over-par by shooting a 2-over-par 74 to follow up Wednesday’s 8-over-par 80. Benedetti did the opposite, following up an opening round 74 with a second round 80.
Freshman Isaiah Telles rebounded from an opening round 83 to shoot a 4-over-par 76, while freshman Sean Maekawa followed up his opening round 78 with a 10-over-par 82.
Freshman Jack Dukeminier made the biggest turnaround from first to second round, firing a 2-over-par 74 Thursday after an 18-over-par 90 Wednesday to open the tournament. Dukeminier suffered 11 bogeys, two double bogeys and a quadruple bogey to just three pars and a birdie Wednesday, but rebounded with 14 pars, three bogeys and a birdie in Thursday’s second round.
Oregon plays its third round today and must leapfrog several teams to gain a spot in Saturday’s final round, which will feature the top 15 teams through three rounds. Oregon stands 13 strokes back of Alabama for the 15th and final spot.
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