NCAA Regionals Await Ducks in Tucson
05/13/16 | Men's Golf
EUGENE - The Oregon men's golf team looks to clinch a trip back to Eugene Country Club for the NCAA Championship when it heads to The Gallery Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz., for NCAA Regionals. Action at The Gallery is set to begin on Monday at 7 a.m., and run through Wednesday.
Host: Arizona
Course: The Gallery Golf Club
Course Info: Par-72, 7,258 yards
Format: Shotgun Start
Oregon Lineup: Aaron Wise, Zach Foushee, Sulman Raza, Thomas Lim, Edwin Yi
THE FIELD
Also competing in the Tucson regional will be No. 1 Stanford, No. 12 Wake Forest, No. 13 California, No. 25 North Carolina, North Florida, UAB, Georgia Tech, St. Mary's (CA), Georgia State, North Texas, Louisiana Tech, UC Riverside and Siena. The regional also features four players ranked inside the Golfweek top 30 in No. 2 Maverick McNealy (Stanford), No. 7 Aaron Wise (Oregon), No. 29 KK Limbhasut (California), No. 30 David Boote (Stanford). To advance to the NCAA Championships, fourth-seeded Oregon will need to place in the top five. The regional will also play host to individuals Sean Walsh (Gonzaga), Brandon Bauman (UC Santa Barbara), Alex Chiarella (San Deigo), Daniela Chian (Long Beach State) and Aaron Beverly (Sacramento State).
ABOUT THE DUCKS
The Ducks are coming off a sixth-place finish at the Pac-12 Championship last weekend to follow their sixth top-five finish of the season the Western Intercollegiate, where Aaron Wise paced the Ducks to third place behind his second consecutive runner-up finish. Oregon has tallied three consecutive top-five-or-better finishes heading into this weekend's Pac-12 Championship, including a second-place performance 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., in March to follow a fourth-place mark 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 NCAA REGIONALS
The Ducks have earned an NCAA Regional berth in each of head coach Casey Martin's 10 seasons at Oregon. The Eugene native has led UO to one regional title and four second-place finishes, qualifying for the NCAA Championships six times. On the individual side, Martin led Joey Benedetti to a medalist finish in 2008 while Daniel Miernicki (2010, 2012) and Thomas Lim (2014) came away with second-place finishes. Benedetti's individual title in 2008 was Oregon's first. Thanks to a strong finish in the final round, Oregon finished fifth in the Noblesville, Ind., Regional last season to qualify for the NCAA Championship for the sixth time in nine years.
LAST TIME OUT
The Oregon men's golf team finished tied for sixth after the fourth and final round of the Pac-12 Championship on Sunday at the par-71, 7,209-yard Country Club of Salt Lake.
Oregon carded a final-round 12-over 367 to bring its 72-hole total to a 39-over 1,459 and tie Colorado for sixth overall. No. 4 Stanford earned the team title at 18-under following an 11-over 366 in its final round. California (+11), Arizona State (+19), Washington (+23) and USC (+28) rounded out the top five on the final team leaderboard.
Aaron Wise rebounded from a tough start in Sunday's fourth round to record a 1-under 70 and finish tied for ninth with Washington's Corey Pereira at 1-under overall with a final total of 283. After recording four bogeys over his first seven holes, the Duck sophomore converted six birdies over his final 11 holes to get back under par for the round. Arizona State's Jon Rahm earned the individual Pac-12 title at 12-under overall.
The event marks Wise's seventh top-10 finish of the season, and fourth straight going back to his third-place performance at the Northwest Classic in March. The Lake Elsinore, Calif., product finished in the top 10 four times last season.
Coming off a pair of impressive rounds with a 68 in Friday's second round and a 67 in Saturday's third, junior Thomas Lim struggled a bit Sunday with a 6-over 77 to finish tied for 19th.
Freshman Edwin Yi fired a 2-over 73 Sunday to finish with an 8-over 74-70-75-73 four-round total for the event. Like Wise, Yi had some difficulty over the back nine after teeing off on the 10th, recording four bogeys. Yi bounced back with four birdies over the final nine, before an unfortunate double bogey on the par-4 ninth to bring his weekend to a close.
Redshirt junior Sulman Raza fired a 74 for his final round, finishing in 42nd with a 14-over 298 for the tournament.
Entering Sunday in 66th overall, Brandon McIver moved up 13 spots on the leaderboard over the course of his final 18, recording a 73 for his lowest score of the weekend to finish in 53rd with a 72-hole tally of 79-75-76-73. Nigel Lett finished tied for 64th with a 307 after a final round 78.
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 six of his 11 appearances this season. With his wins at the Jackrabbit last fall and the Amer Ari Invitational in February, 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.
WISE'S BIG WEEK
Oregon golf sophomore Aaron Wise earned a win at the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada's British Columbia Qualifying Tournament held at the Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community to achieve exempt status for the 2016 Mackenzie Tour season.
Having held a commanding lead following each of the second and third rounds, Wise fired an even-par 72 in Friday's final round to finish off the win with a 14-under 274. The Lake Elsinore, Calif., native opened the week with a first-round 65 on Tuesday to sit a stroke back from Ontario's Eric Hawerchuk after 18 holes. From that point, Wise took over, carding a 68 and 69 on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, to hold a four-stroke lead over Texas A&M product Conrad Shindler after moving day.
Wise followed up his week in Canada by earning medalist honors at the 2016 U.S. Open Local Qualifier held at Pronghorn Resort on Tuesday to, along with teammate Sulman Raza, advance to the Sectional Qualifier at Royal Oaks Country Club in Vancouver, Wash., on June 6. Other Ducks competing included Sam Foust, Zach Foushee, Nigel Lett, Sulman Raza and head coach Casey Martin. Foust, a freshman from Edina, Minn., finished just outside the cut line at 1-over in a tie for ninth.
“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 HOGAN AWARD SEMIFINALIST
Oregon golf sophomore Aaron Wise was named one of 10 semifinalists for the 2016 Ben Hogan Award, the Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf and the Golf Coaches Association of America announced earlier this month. Wise is Oregon's first Hogan semifinalist since the award revised its criteria to its current standard of honoring the most outstanding amateur collegiate golfer for the 2001-02 season.
The most prestigious award in men's college golf, the Ben Hogan Award is issued annually to the top men's collegiate 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.
Aside from Wise, other 2016 semifinalists for the award include Charlie Danielson (Illinois), Sam Horsfield (Florida), Beau Hossler (Texas), Michael Johnson (Auburn), Lee McCoy (Georgia ), Maverick McNealy (Stanford), Matt NeSmith (South Carolina), Jon Rahm (Arizona State) and Robby Shelton (Alabama).
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.
LOOKING FORWARD
If the Ducks can record a top-five finish in Tucson, Oregon will advance to the NCAA Championship for the third straight season and the seventh time in the last 10 years. Championship play at Eugene Country Club is set to tee off on Friday, May 27 with 54 holes of stroke play before the field is cut to 15 teams for the final round of stroke play on Monday. The top eight teams after Monday's fourth round advance to the match play portion of the championship, which is set to begin on Tuesday, May 31.
Players Mentioned
