Men's Golf: UCLA Leads Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge

Oregon is 10th, Oregon State 12th. In the conference challenge portion of the tournament, the Pac-10 holds a slim 16 stroke lead.

Photo courtesy: UCLA

BANDON - UCLA used a strong first round and then held on through a sunny but windy afternoon to grab the overnight lead at the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge, played Monday at Pacific Dunes.

The Bruins covered the par-71 6,633-yard course in an even par 284 as a team in the morning, and then in the afternoon, with winds blowing from the north at 20 miles per hour, carded a 310 for a 594 total.

That was two strokes better than Wisconsin, which fired a 296 during the afternoon -- the only sub-300 score in the second round -- to go with an opening 300 that left the Badgers at 596.

Matt Ma led host Oregon by shooting rounds of 73-75 and was tied for seventh at 6-over 148. The senior from Aiea, Hawaii, had six birdies on Monday.

The Ducks were 10th as a team, 22 strokes back of the Bruins at 616 after rounds of 305 and 314.

Individually, Jamie Lovemark of USC had one of only four sub-par rounds of the day in shooting an even par 142 (70-72) and led Wisconsin’s Jeff Kaiser by three strokes. Kaiser went 75-70 for a 3-over 145 total.

Four golfers were tied for third at 147, including UCLA teammates Daniel Im and Erik Flores, Washington’s Alex Prugh and Jonathan Bowers of Northwestern.

Ma and Washington’s Nick Taylor were a shot back of that group.

After UCLA and Wisconsin, the team race remained tight with Stanford and USC tied for third at 600, Washington fifth at 602 and defending champ Northwestern 12 strokes back at 606

Michigan State led the second half of the field at 610, with Minnesota (612), Indiana (616), Oregon (619), Illinois (625) and Oregon State (628) rounding out the 12 schools.

Oregon’s Derek Sipe was tied for 47th at 159, while Marcus Sostak was tied for 52nd at 160.

The Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge concludes with a final 18 holes Tuesday beginning at 8:30 AM. The tournament is open to the public, and admission is free.

Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge

Team Standings - 1, UCLA, 284-310-594. 2, Wisconsin, 300-296-596. T3, Stanford, 294-306-600; USC, 295-305-600. 5, Washington, 300-302-602. 6, Northwestern, 300-306-606. 7, Michigan State, 296-314-610. 8, Minnesota, 308-304-612. 9, Indiana, 312-304-616. 10, Oregon, 305-314-619. 11, Illinois, 303-322-625. 12, Oregon State, 305-323-628.

Top Individuals - 1, Jamie Lovemark, USC, 70-72-142. 2, Jeff Kaiser, Wisconsin, 75-70-145. T3, Alex Prugh, Washington, 73-74-147; Erik Flores, UCLA, 70-77-147; Jonathan Bowers, Northwestern, 74-73-147; Daniel Im, UCLA, 71-76-147. T7, Matt Ma, Oregon, 73-75-148; Nick Taylor, Washington, 74-74-148.

Oregon Results - T47, Derek Sipe, 78-81-159. T52, Marcus Sostak, 80-80-160. 56, Joey Benedetti, 74-88-162. 60, Andrew Leneve, 90-78-168.

Oregon State Scores: T24. James Allenby (73-80) 153; T31. Jeremiah Oliver

(75-79) 154; T40. Mitch Gillis (78-79) 157; 57. Scott Barton (79-86)

165; T58. Diego Velasquez (81-85) 166.

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