Ducks Close Regular Season at the Western Intercollegiate
04/09/16 | Men's Golf
EUGENE – The Oregon men's golf team will wrap up the regular season this week at the Western Intercollegiate, played at the par-70, 6,615-yard Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif. The Ducks are looking for their sixth team title at the event.
Host: San Jose State
Course: Pasatiempo Golf Club
Course Info: Par-70, 6,615 yards
Tee Time: 8:45 a.m.
Format: Shotgun Start
Lineup: Aaron Wise, Sulman Raza, Zach Foushee, Nigel Lett, Thomas Lim, Edwin Yi
Individual: Brandon McIver
THE FIELD
The Western Intercollegiate field includes six teams in the Golfstat top 25, as of the start of this month. The field includes No. 1 USC, No. 5 Arizona State, No. 6 Stanford, No. 13 California, No. 22 San Diego State and No. 25 Washington,along with Oregon, Pepperdine, UCLA, UTEP, Arizona, Hawaii, UC Irvine and San Jose State. The field also includes 18 of the top-100 ranked collegiate players in the country.
ABOUT THE DUCKS
The Ducks are coming off their fifth top-five finish of the season at The Goodwin, thanks to a second-place finish by Aaron Wise. The finish at The Goodwin followed up the team's highest finish of the spring, coming in second at the Northwest Classic in Canby, Ore., led by junior Sulman Raza, who earned his first collegiate win. Oregon posted a 10th-place finish at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas, Nev., earlier this month to follow a fourth-place finish at the Southwestern Jones Invitational. Oregon turned in a third-place finish at the Amer Ari Invitational in February, where Wise, Oregon's active program tournament wins leader, picked up his second win of the season and fourth win of his career. Oregon has one win under its belt from a successful appearance at the Husky Invitational last fall where the Ducks took home a share of the tournament title for a second consecutive season. Oregon finished third at The Jackrabbit behind a strong performance from Wise that saw the sophomore earn co-medalist honors. The Ducks wrapped up the fall season with 10th and sixth place finishes at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational and The Gifford, respectively.
Oregon returns nine players from a successful 2014-15 campaign that saw the team record five tournament wins, tying them for second overall on the program single-season wins list. The Ducks wrapped up the 2015 season at the NCAA Championships in Bradenton, Fla., where they finished 23rd overall. The Ducks are led by 10th-year head coach Casey Martin and third-year assistant coach Van Williams.
OREGON AT THE WESTERN INTERCOLLEGIATE
The Ducks are looking for their sixth win at the Western Intercollegiate, which began in 1947. Oregon's last win at the event came in 2010, when Eugene Wong medaled to lead the Ducks to victory. The Ducks had won the previous year as well. Overall, Oregon has been victorious at the Western Intercollegiate in 1993, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2010. The Ducks have five players in program history that have medaled at the tournament: Peter Jacobsen (1974), Doug DuChateau (1991), Cam Martin (1993), Ted Snavely (1994), and Wong (2010). Oregon holds the 54-hole team record at the tournament with a 1,038 in 2010.
LAST TIME OUT
The Oregon men's golf team finished tied for fifth at The Goodwin behind another strong performance from sophomore Aaron Wise, who finished second.
The Ducks carded a 4-over 284 in Saturday's final round of play at the par-70, 6,727-yard Stanford Golf Course to tally their fifth top-five finish of the season. Overall, Oregon finished with an 8-over 848 to tie with the Stanford B-Team for fifth. UC Davis won the event with a 13-under total.
Aaron Wise wrapped up his weekend with a final-round, 2-under 68. The sophomore finished the event at 9-under with a three-round 201 (66-67-68) to finish in second, one stroke off individual medalist Luke Vivolo of UC Davis. Wise has been amazingly consistent this season, as this weekend's result marks Wise's fifth top-three finish of the season in nine appearances.
Junior Sulman Raza finished the weekend in 41st after a final-round 72 to bring his 54-hole tally to a 6-over 216. Raza was coming off his first career win last week at the Northwest Classic.
After getting to the turn at even par, Brandon McIver recorded four bogeys over the final nine holes to end up with a 74. McIver finished with a 7-over 217 for the weekend to tie for 50th.
Zach Foushee recorded an even-par 70 to finish tied for 59th with at 8-over. After opening his round with three bogeys over the first six holes, Foushee drained three straight birdies on the seventh, eighth and ninth to get back on track. The senior managed to improve on his score every day of the event, turning in a 75-73-70 card.
Nigel Let struggled Saturday, shooting a 77 for his final round to end the event at 12-over in a tie for 82nd.
RAZA DAZZLE
Sulman Raza has had a strong month, finishing as the low Duck in two of the last three events and winning his first collegiate tournament at the Northwest Invitational last month. Prior to his win, the junior was coming off a third-place finish at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas. Raza has recorded three top-five finishes this season, the first being a fifth place finish at the season-opening Husky Invitational in September. Having competed in seven tournaments this season, Raza currently holds a career-best 72.33 stroke average.
WINNING WISE
Much like head coach Casey Martin expressed after Aaron Wise's third-place finish at the season-opening Husky Invitational, it seems the sophomore has developed into an elite player in the collegiate ranks. Wise has won two individual titles this season, and has been amazingly consistent, finishing in the top three or higher in five of his nine appearances this season. With his wins at the Jackrabbit last fall and the Amer Ari Invitational, Wise became the second player in Oregon history to win two individual titles in the same season (Daniel Miernicki – 2009-10, 2011-12) and the second player to win four total in his career. With his next win, Wise will tie Miernicki's record of five.
PAC-12 GOLFER OF THE MONTH
Oregon sophomore Aaron Wise has been named Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month for February, the conference announced earlier this month.
Wise posted an average score of 69.67 over the month of February to lead the Ducks to a tie for a third-place finish at the Amer Ari Invitational and a fourth-place finish at the Southwestern Jones Invitational. He won his second tournament of the season and fourth of his career at the Amer Ari Invitational with a 16-under 200 (69-67-64). After only 19 career tournaments, Wise is the second Duck in program history to medal four times in his collegiate career.
The honor marks his second Pac-12 Golfer of the Month reecognition for Wise this season, as he gained the accolade for the month of September as well. In six rounds of play in September, Wise posted five rounds under par and one round at even par.
“WISE BY NAME AND NATURE”
Oregon golf sophomore Aaron Wise won the Australian Master of the Amateurs at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in January. Wise posted a four-round tally of 283 at the event to finish at 5-under for the week, two strokes better than runner-up Jonathan Thomson from the United Kingdom.
The win is the latest in a string of strong performances on the amateur circuit from the Lake Elsinore, Calif., native in last several months. Wise, the eighth-ranked amateur in the world, took home the title at the Pacific Coast Amateur last July and tallied second-place finishes at the Western Amateur and SCGA Amateur Championship.
WISE NAMED TO HOGAN AWARD WATCH LIST
Oregon men's golf sophomore Aaron Wise was one of 25 collegiate golfers named to the 2016 Ben Hogan Award Watch List, as announced by the Colonial Country Club, the Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America last month.
The most prestigious award in men's college golf, The Ben Hogan Award is issued annually to the top men's college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the past 12 months. The Ben Hogan Award Selection Committee is comprised of leaders in professional, amateur and collegiate golf.
The list of 10 semifinalists will be unveiled on Wednesday, April 13. On Tuesday, May 3, that group will be cut to three finalists, who will attend a banquet at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth on Monday, May 23, prior to the start of the PGA TOUR's Colonial National Invitation Tournament, where the winner will be named.
2016 NCAA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS HEADED FOR EUGENE
The University of Oregon was selected to host the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Golf Championships, the NCAA announced on Jan. 14, 2015. The tournament will be played at Eugene Country Club, with the women's championships held May 20-25 and the men's from May 27-June 1. This marks the first time Oregon will host both the men's and women's NCAA golf championships in the same year. Tickets are on sale now on GoDucks.com.
ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
The Ducks' 2014-15 season was a historic one as the team racked up five tournament victories, tying it for second overall on the all-time program wins list with the 2009-10 team. The 2011-12 team remains the winningest team in Oregon men's golf history with seven tournament wins. The 2014-15 season also saw the Ducks win the most consecutive team championships as they took home four-straight victories at the Husky Invitational, Itani Homes Collegiate, Nike Golf Collegiate Invite and Ka'anapali Classic.
LOOKING FORWARD
The Ducks will head to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the Pac-12 Championship from April 29-May 1 at the Country Club of Salt Lake.
Players Mentioned
