Senior Joey Benedetti didn’t want his last campaign as an Oregon golfer to end. He wanted to play at least one more tournament with his teammates, which meant that the Ducks would have to advance beyond the NCAA West Regional to the Championships, an unlikely scenario given that the top 10 teams advance and the Ducks were a No. 16 seed.
“I was driving up here this week and I was just thinking about it being my senior year and how I didn’t want it to be our last tournament,” Benedetti said in a press release. “I can only really control what I do, so I really just wanted to go out and not leave anything out on the course and focus on every shot. I think I did that.”
What Benedetti did was shoot three consecutive 3-under-par rounds to win the NCAA West Regional by four strokes and help propel the No. 16 seed Ducks to a second-place finish and a berth in the NCAA Championships on May 28-31 at Purdue University. It was Benedetti’s first career win, and the first NCAA Regional individual medal in the history of the Oregon golf program. The previous best was a runner-up finish by Ben Crane, now a PGA Tour player, in 1998.
“He just did phenomenal. I’m so pumped for him,” Oregon coach Casey Martin said of Benedetti. “He’s really worked hard and these last few months of his career he’s really turned it on.”
Benedetti beat three golfers tied for second at 5-under-par 211: Rory Hie of USC, Nick Taylor of Washington and Michael McRae of Saint Mary’s, to earn his first career victory as a Duck.
“He answered every birdie that I had it seemed like,” Hie said of playing with Benedetti Saturday. “He is a great player.”
Senior Derek Sipe and freshman Isaiah Telles tied for the No. 11 spot at even par. Telles moved up the leaderboard on Saturday with a late run that included an eagle on hole 14 on his way to a 3-under-par 69 for the final round. Sipe shot 1-over-par 73 in the final round to slip back into the tie. Jack Dukeminier tied for No. 63 with a final round 74 and Sean Maekawa tied for No. 122.
The second-place team finish was the highest at the tournament in school history. The previous best was a fifth-place finish in 1999.
“We had a tough start…but everyone responded and we got it in,” Martin said. “That was a big step forward for our program, no doubt.”
The Ducks will play in the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2003, and for the fifth time in school history.
“I’m so happy for the guys to get to go experience that. For the freshmen to get to go do something like that is awesome, and the seniors haven’t been there yet,” Martin said. “It’s pretty cool.”
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