USC Rolls to Pac-10 Tourney Lead

Jamie Lovemark’s second round 6-under 66 gave the Trojan freshman the individual lead after the first day at 9-under overall.

Senior Eric Hastings shot a pair of 73's for the Ducks. Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - While the scoring went up overall in Monday’s second round, USC soared to an 18-under 342 to take an eight stroke leads at the midway point of the 2007 Pacific-10 men’s golf championships.

The Trojans were at 20-under 700 after 36 holes at the par 72, 7,033-yard Eugene Country Club. Host Oregon was in sixth at 732.

It was a tale of two rounds for most of the field, especially for the Ducks and Trojans.

Those two teams finished Monday’s morning round in a tie for fourth at 2-under 358. In the second 18, a pair of freshman stars led the Trojans to a stunning 18-under round.

Jamie Lovemark’s second round 6-under 66 gave the Trojan freshman the individual lead after the first day at 9-under overall.

Lovemark has won the previous two tournaments he’s played in the state of Oregon this season, last fall’s Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge and last month’s Oregon Duck Invitational.

Fellow USC rookie Rory Hie finished in a tie for second with Arizona State’s Niklas Lemke at 5-under 139.

UCLA’s Kevin Chappell and defending Pac-10 champion Daniel Im round out the top five after each shot rounds of 71 and 69 to finish at 4-under, five shots off the pace.

USC’s 18-under in the second round was eleven shots better than any other round by a Pac-10 squad on Monday.

UCLA followed up a 5-under 355 that gave the team the first-round lead with a 7-under 353 to finish second after the tournament’s first day at 12-under 708.

Stanford (even), Arizona State (2-over) and Washington (5-over) round out the top five after 36 holes.

Sitting tied with the nation’s sixth-ranked Trojans after 18 holes, the Ducks struggled to a 14-over 372 in the second round to finish in sixth place at 12-over.

Juniors Derek Sipe and Joey Benedetti led the Ducks after shooting even par 144. Sipe was tied for the tournament lead after a first-round 3-under 69 before dropping three strokes on the second 18.

Eric Hastings’ consecutive rounds of 73 left the senior at 2-over 146 at the end of the day and tied for 25th. Freshman Marcus Sostak and Junior Zeke Reyna finished the day at 5-over 149, tied for 43rd.

The tournament continues Tuesday with another 18 holes beginning at 8:00 AM at Eugene Country Club.

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