The No. 7 Oregon men’s golf team put last year’s regional flameout in the rearview mirror over the weekend, taking second at the NCAA Central Regional in Ann Arbor, Mich., and moving on to the NCAA Championships that will be held later in May.@@http://www.visitannarbor.org/@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205429135@@
This marks the 25th time in school history that Oregon has reached the NCAA Championships, and the fourth appearance in the six years since Casey Martin became head coach.
The Ducks rode a 4-under 280 in the final round on Saturday to capture the second-place finish behind fellow Pac-12 opponent USC. In all, Oregon shot a 10-under 842 for the tournament, just one shot behind the Trojans (11-under 841) and two shots ahead of third-place finisher Kent State (8-under 844). Rounding out the top five to advance to the NCAAs were fourth-place Virginia (6-under 846) and fifth-place TCU (3-under 849). The scores dropped off precipitously after that, as none of the remaining eight teams managed to break par for the tournament.
“We would have loved to have won, but we advanced and that was the main goal,” Martin said to GoDucks.com. “We aimed high coming in and were right there in the hunt. I’m thrilled to be going back to nationals, and it will be a great way to send off a senior class that has done so much for our program.”
Individually, it was Daniel Miernicki@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1605902@@ who led the way for the Ducks. The senior tied for second overall with a final score of 7-under 206, paced in large part by a 6-under 65 in the second round. Freshman Jonathan Woo@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Jonathan*Woo@@ followed close behind in a tie for seventh (5-under 208), while seniors Eugene Wong@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Eugene*Wong@@ and Andrew Vijarro were also strong with ties for 19th and 28th place respectively.@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Andrew*Vijarro@@
Looking ahead, the Ducks will look to improve upon an impressive third-place finish at the NCAA Championships back in 2010. Oregon’s tenth-place finish at regionals last year barred it from any sort of encore performance.
The Championships are scheduled to begin on May 29 at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.