The Oregon men’s golf team opens its spring season today in Waikoloa, Hawaii, at the University of Hawaii-Hilo Intercollegiate tournament.
The event will run through Friday at the par-72, 6,971-yard Waikoloa Village golf course, with each team playing 18 holes each day.
Senior Derek Sipe will look to recreate his school record low round of 62 from last season’s event. The record round propelled him to a 12th-place tie for the tournament.
Fellow Oregon senior Joey Bendetti has also played well at the UH-Hilo tournament, with a pair of top-40 finishes in the last two seasons. The seniors combined to push the Ducks up to a tie for 10th as a team last year, their best showing in Waikoloa in six years.
Oregon fields the same team that produced five top-four finishes in the fall season and enters the season ranked No. 49 in the nation in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. The team features seniors Sipe and Benedetti along with freshmen Jack Dukeminier, Sean Maekawa and Isaiah Telles. Maekawa, a native of Pa’auilo, Hawaii, tied with Dukeminier for the best scoring average on the fall team at 71.9.
Also competing in the event are ranked Pacific-10 Conference schools No. 8 USC and No. 10 Stanford. The Cardinal won the event last year in a playoff against Oklahoma State.