Any notion of rust after a three-week layoff was quickly erased as the No. 1 men’s golf team took first place at the NCAA Southwest Regional by an impressive 10 strokes.
The Ducks finished with an overall score of 870 (six over par), and No. 13 Augusta State followed with a score of 880 (16 over par). With the win, the team sealed its place in the NCAA Championships beginning on June 1.
For his part, head coach Casey Martin was not surprised by the final result. Heading into the tournament, the Ducks had expected to pace the field.
What did shock him was the margin of victory.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Martin said. “To win by that kind of margin against this field is just incredible.”
Playing on familiar turf, sophomore Daniel Miernicki dominated the field and finished second only to Nick Delio of Cal State Northridge. His final score of 214 (two under par) was just one stroke behind Delio’s 213 (three under par).
More surprising was the play of Isaiah Telles. The junior tied for third overall, finishing just one stroke behind Miernicki with a 215 (one under par). The finish was due in large part to a blistering final round, during which Telles shot a 67 (five under par).
“Isaiah probably had his best round as a Duck,” Martin said. “This course was set up tougher than any I’ve seen since becoming coach, and he shot 67.”
Following Telles was junior Jack Dukeminier, whose final score of 221 (five over par) was good for a 14th place tie. Sophomore Andrew Vijarro was two strokes behind with a 223 (seven over par) and finished tied for 21st, while fellow sophomore Eugene Wong hit a 225 (nine over par) to tie for 33rd.
After tying for first overall in the opening round with a 294 (six over par), the Ducks never looked back. The lead remained intact after round two after the team shot a 290 (two over par), yet No. 34 California trailed close behind by just two strokes.
Luckily, Oregon had saved its best for last. The team shot a 286 (two under par) in the final round, while California imploded with a 300 (12 over par). Augusta State took over the second place standing with a final round 291 (three over par) but still finished ten strokes behind the Ducks.
Joining Oregon in Chattanooga, Tenn., for the NCAA Championships will be seven other Pacific-10 Conference teams, including No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Washington, No. 6 UCLA, No. 8 USC, No. 9 Arizona State, and No. 21 Oregon State.

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