Oregon Receives Bid to NCAA Men’s Golf West Regional

Overall, this is Oregon’s 13th bid to the NCAA West Regional, and first since 2005.

The Oregon men's golf team received a bid to the NCAA West Regional on Monday. Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - The Oregon men’s golf team learned Monday that it will continue playing into the 2007 postseason.

The Ducks received the No. 20 seed to the NCAA West Regional, which will be contested May 17th-19th at Arizona State’s Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.

The top 10 teams from the 54-hole West Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships May 30th-June 2nd in Williamsburg, Va.

"I’m very excited and pleased to get a regional bid in my first year," said head coach Casey Martin. "All the credit goes to the guys who really stepped up in spring and made Oregon into a deserving team.

"Our goal now is not just to be happy to get to the regional, but to advance from there," said Martin.

The course in Tempe is the same one where the Ducks won the Thunderbird Invitational last month, defeating the likes of USC, Arizona State, Nevada-Las Vegas, Arizona and New Mexico, all of whom will be at Karsten next week.

Overall, this is Oregon’s 13th bid to the NCAA West Regional, and first since 2005.

The Ducks qualified for seven straight regionals from 1997 through 2003, but failed to earn a bid in 2004 or 2006.

Oregon has advanced out of the regional to the NCAA Championships four times, most recently in 2003.

The Ducks were one of nine Pac-10 teams to receive a bid to the West Regional.

Only Washington State did not advance this season.

The league dominated the high seeds with Stanford receiving the region’s top bid. UCLA (No. 2), Pac-10 tournament champ USC (No. 5), Arizona State (No. 7) and Arizona (No. 9) were all placed in the top 10.

Washington received the No. 12 seed, while Oregon State came in at No. 18 and California just behind the Ducks at No. 21.

The rest of the field was a mixture of western powers, a couple of Southern schools and conference champions.

Nevada-Las Vegas garnered the No. 3 seed, while Atlantic Sun champ East Tennessee came in at No. 5.

Mountain West winner Brigham Young was the No. 6 seed, Wake Forest came in at No. 8 and Big West champion UC Irvine rounded out the top 10 seeds.

South Carolina was seeded 11th, Vanderbilt 12th, Augusta State 14th and West Coast Conference winner Pepperdine was No. 15.

San Diego State was No. 16, with New Mexico at No. 17, Colorado State at No. 18, Western Athletic champ Nevada at No. 22 and Denver at No. 23.

Seeds 24 through 27 were filled by Eastern conference champions, including Penn (Ivy), Detroit (Horizon), Bucknell (Patriot) and Monmouth (Northeast).

Oregon will be paired with Colorado State and California for the first two rounds.

In round one, the Ducks will tee off the back nine at 7:00 AM on May 17th, and then will start the second round on the front nine at 12:12 PM on May 18th.

Only one of Oregon’s current top five golfers has played in an NCAA Regional.

Senior Matt Ma struggled as a sophomore in 2005, tying for 128th after shooting a 21-over 237 at the Stanford Golf Course.

The Ducks tied for 13th in 2005, missing a trip to the national championships by six strokes.

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