Men's Golf: Sheldon’s Dukeminier Among Four Oregon Signees

Dukeminier helped lead Sheldon to back-to-back state titles in 2005 and 2006, and shared state medalist honors as a junior after firing a 68-69-137 series at the Oregon Golf Association Course in Woodburn.

Casey Martin signed his first class on Tuesday, including Sheldon's Jack Dukeminier. Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE - Sheldon High School senior Jack Dukeminier was among four high school players to sign a National Letter of Intent to play golf next season at Oregon, Duck head coach Casey Martin announced Tuesday.

Dukeminier will join Isaiah Telles of Tualatin, Ore., Sean Maekawa of Pa’auilo, Hawaii, and John Paton of Hillsborough, Calif., on the Oregon roster next season.

"Bringing in four quality players, I think this is a great start to building the program," said Martin of his first official signing class as head coach at Oregon. "This class will have an immediate impact for us and contribute right away."

Recently named all-Southwest League second team placekicker for the Irish, who are currently in the second round of the state playoffs, Dukeminier was a quarterfinalist at the 2006 Oregon Amateur and was the state junior champion in 2005.

Dukeminier’s older brother Chris was a senior on Oregon’s team last season and competed for the Ducks’ 2005 squad that advanced to the NCAA West Regional.

"It was important to get Jack in a lot of ways," said Martin. "It’s good to keep kids like him at home. There have been a lot of good golfers who have come out of Eugene like Eric Johnson, Brian Henninger, myself and Jeff Quinney, and Jack has the potential to be the next in that group.

"He hasn’t played as much on the national scene, but he has big-time potential," said Martin. "He’s talented and very long off the tee -- probably longer than his brother who was sort of known as a bomber."

Telles, who has won three junior tournaments in the state since March, helped lead Tualatin High School to the 2004 state championship as a freshman when he tied for sixth at 1-over 145. He inched up a spot as a sophomore, tying for fifth at 2-over 146. Last season, he tied for seventh at 2-under 142.

Telles won last month’s junior event at Pumpkin Ridge (72-69-139), and also claimed the title at the Oregon Junior Stroke Play Championships in July (75-65-66-206) and the Northwest Junior Golf tour’s stop in Portland (65-72-137) in March.

"Isaiah has been competitive for a long time in junior and amateur golf," said Martin. "He hasn’t competed as much nationally, but when he has, he’s competed well. He had an amazing final stretch of the summer. He was dominant and averaged about 70.5 (stroke average) through the fall."

Telles placed third at the Hogan Cup in August (67-74-141) and took sixth at the Peter Jacobsen Junior Challenge (73-72-145) in June.

"I believe we signed the top two seniors in the state with Jack and Isaiah," said Martin.

Maekawa is the only national top 100 recruit of the four Oregon signees. He finished 11th at the USGA Junior America Championships in July, shooting rounds of 70-73 for a 143 total. He won the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifier at Kahauku, Hawaii, in June with a 148 total. Maekawa, who plays for Honoka’a High School, has won three times on the junior circuit since April.

"Sean is an excellent ball-striker and a tireless worker," said Martin. "He drives 50 minutes to practice every day. He’s definitely one of the top junior players in the nation."

Oregon originally became interested in Maekawa through another native of the Big Island, current Oregon senior Matt Ma (Aiea, Hawaii). "Sean was the first player to commit to us this summer and we were fortunate to have a connection to him through Matt Ma," said Martin.

Paton, who plays for Sacred Heart Prep, tied for sixth at the 2006 FCWT Bayonet and Black Horse Junior Golf Invitational in Seaside, Calif., shooting 72-75-147. He shot a 145 at the U.S. Junior Amateur Sectional qualifier to advance.

"John is a great kid, very athletic," said Martin. "He’s a tall left-handed player who has been working with the Australian teaching method of golf, which has proven to be very successful. He has a lot of potential to become a great player in a couple of years."

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