University of Oregon
Gallery Golf Club
Hot Finish Punches Ducks? Ticket to NCAA Championship
05/18/16 | Men's Golf
MARANA, Ariz. – The Oregon men's golf team posted its lowest score of the season Wednesday at The Gallery Golf Club to finish second in the Tucson Regional and clinch its third straight appearance at the NCAA Golf Championship, which is set for next week at Eugene Country Club.
How It Happened: The Ducks fired a 14-under 274 to tie for the low round of the Tucson Regional and finish second at 17-under overall with a 54-hole tally of 847. Oregon finished 10 strokes ahead of third-place UAB, while No. 13 California (-2) and No. 12 Wake Forest (-1) rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. Top-ranked Stanford took home the regional title at 31-under behind Franklin Huang, who earned medalist honors at 12-under for the week.
Oregon started hot, going bogey-free on the front nine to hit the turn at 10-under as a team. Impressively, no Duck would card a bogey until the 12th hole. Among counting scores for the Ducks, the team dropped in 19 birdies to only five bogeys for the day.
The Ducks' strong finish was led by a pair of 67's from sophomore Aaron Wise and freshman Edwin Yi.
Entering the day at even par after posting a couple of 72's over the first two days of regional action, Wise came out swinging in his final round. The Lake Elsinore, Calif., native dropped in three straight birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes before wrapping up the front with a birdie on the par-5 ninth to reach the turn at 4-under. Wise would card a 1-under 35 on the back to get to 5-under for the tournament and finish in seventh overall.
Yi also saved his best round of the week for Wednesday, following up two 75's from his first two rounds with a 67 to finish in a tie for 22nd at 1-over. The freshman shined, sinking five birdies to no bogeys to tie Wise for the course's low round of the day.
Junior Thomas Lim was the low Duck for the week, finishing in a tie for fourth at 6-under overall after a 1-over 73 in his final round. It marks the highest finish for Lim this season, besting his seventh-place performance at the season-opening Husky Invitational, while also serving as his highest finish since tying for third at last season's Desert Mountain Intercollegiate.
Turning in a 71 for Wednesday's third round, Sulman Raza finished off the event with a 1-under 215 (71-73-71) to tie for 12th. Raza birdied the par-5 16th and par-4 17th to get back under par before the conclusion of his round and record his fourth top-12 finish of the season.
After turning in a tough 79 in his second round Tuesday, senior Zach Foushee bounced back with an impressive 3-under 69 to wrap up his week. The West Linn, Ore., product remained poised throughout the day, getting to as low as 4-under after converting four birdies through 13 holes before carding his only bogey of the round on the par-4 18th to finish at 5-over for the tournament in a tie for 38th.
What It Means: Before heading to Salt Lake City to compete at the Pac-12 Championship last month, head coach Casey Martin remarked that, with Oregon hosting the 2016 NCAA Golf Championships, his squad was playing with as much pressure as any team in the country this season. His Ducks didn't show it this week, as they took care of business on the way to an impressive second-place finish to clinch the opportunity to compete for a national title on their home course. From top to bottom, Oregon received valuable contributions throughout its lineup during the week, and the Ducks will look to build on that heading into next week's championships.
Notable: Oregon is one of 12 NCAA Division I programs to have both its men's and women's teams in the 2016 NCAA Golf Championships … Oregon's 274 today tied Stanford's first round score as the low single-round score of the 2016 Tucson Regional … the Ducks' 17-under 847 is the third-lowest NCAA Regional score in school history (842, 2012; 837, 2009), and second-lowest score to par (-27, 2009) … today's round bested Oregon's second-round 9-under 279 at the Amer Ari Invitational for its best single-round score this season … this marks the fifth second-place finish at the NCAA Regionals in head coach Casey Martin's 10 years at the helm of the program … in those 10 years, Martin has now led the Ducks to seven #NCAAGolf Championship appearances.
Stacked Field: There will be a host of talent at next week's NCAA Golf Championships at Eugene Country Club. At the conclusion of regionals on Wednesday, 22 of the top 25 teams clinched NCAA Championship berths.
Up Next: The Ducks will compete at the NCAA Championship, set to begin next Friday, May 27 at Eugene Country Club.
Players Mentioned
