Men's Golf Take Round One Lead

Senior Joey Benedetti shot a 3-under 69 as 16th-seeded Oregon claimed the surprising opening round lead after the first day of the NCAA West Regional, played Thursday at the par-72, 7,111-yard Gold Mountain Golf Club.

"We went out and just played great. It’s exciting to be leading after the first day," said Oregon coach Casey Martin. "What an experience for these guys, especially our freshman."

Going into Friday's round the Duck men and leading the West Regional by two strokes against Pac-10 rival and #1 seed USC Trojans as well as the #2 seed UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies were also two shots back behind the Ducks.

Benedetti, Oregon’s No. 1 golfer this season, had a steady round on a windy day when the course yielded only seven rounds under par.

Benedetti hit the ground running with an early birdie on the first hole. Benedetti also had birdies on No. 11, No. 13 and No. 18, a bogey on No. 7 and 13 pars.

"It was great to see Joey step up like that," said Martin. "He’s been our most consistent golfer this spring, so to see his name at the top of the leader board is really exciting."

The top 10 teams were separated by just 10 strokes. After the four Pac-10 schools at the top of the leader board, Pepperdine was fifth at 292, followed by Saint Mary’s at 294. Clemson and North Carolina were tied for seventh at 295. Stanford was ninth at 296 and Texas rounded out the top 10 at 299.

The top 10 teams from Bremerton will advance to the NCAA Championships May 28-31 at Purdue and Oregon’s first round gave the Ducks a 12-stroke cushion on the teams in 11th place, currently Central Florida and Nevada-Las Vegas, which both shot 13-over 301.

"There is a long, long way to go in this tournament," said Martin. "Making up 12 strokes over 36 holes is nothing. I’d feel much better and relax a little if we had a 30 stroke cushion. Maybe 35.

"There are a ton of great teams jammed in there and gunning for us and so we can’t back off," he said. "The bulk of our work remains ahead of us."

The Ducks also got scores of 71, which is one under from Freshman Isiah Telles, an even par 72 from Senior Derek Sipe, five over 77 from Freshman Jack Dukeminier, and lastly an eight over par 80 from Freshman Sean Maekawa.

Sunny and warm conditions are expected for Friday’s second round, which begins at 7 a.m. Oregon is scheduled to tee off the back nine at 12:12.