Following the program’s first ever national championship last spring, the Oregon Ducks men’s golf team will get a chance to repeat in next week’s NCAA Championships.
Thanks to its third-place finish in the Baton Rouge Regional, the team qualified for the NCAA Championships in Sugar Grove, Illinois, next week. The top-five finishers of each of the six regional sites advanced.
At the regional, the Ducks were led by the senior-freshman duo of Wyndham Clark and Norman Xiong. As the top-ranked collegiate golfer in the nation, Clark shot a one-under par in the final round to finish the regional at three-under, good for second place overall. It was his sixth time finishing in the top-two of an event this season.
Xiong, the nation’s No. 6 collegiate golfer, finished in a five-way tie for seventh place. He finished with an even score in the final round, which put him at three-over par for the tournament.
 It was a tough end to the tournament for sophomore Edwin Yi, who came into the day at one-over par but shot a 12-over par in the final round to finish the tournament tied for 47th place.  He finished one stroke ahead of teammate Kevin Geniza, who shot two-under par in the final round. Ryan Gronlund rounded out the Ducks’ starting five lineup with a 16-over par tournament score to finish tied for 55th place. He shot six-over par in the final round.
The other teams that advanced to next week’s championships were regional host LSU, Duke and Virginia. Also making the cut was Jacksonville, which beat out Northwestern for the final spot. They both finished in a tie for fifth place, so the two schools participated in a match play tiebreaker to determine who advanced.
The NCAA Championships will be played from May 26-31.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter @zlast3445