Men's Golf Strong Performance at Regionals has Heartbreaking End

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Oregon State men’s golf team had a strong third round at the NCAA West Regional, finishing with the second-best score in team history, but was unable to advance to the NCAA Championships after falling short in a three-team playoff.

Despite another great round that saw a 5-under 281, the Beavers found themselves in a three way tie for 9^th following Saturday’s final round at the par-72 Karsten Golf Course. OSU, Wake Forest, and East Tennessee State tied at 25-under 839 and competed in a five hole playoff to determine the tie-breaker. All five golfers participated in the playoff, each starting on different holes. The four lowest scores relative to par were totaled. Oregon State finished the playoff at even-par, but missed out by one stroke as Wake Forest recorded a 1-under.

South Carolina won the tournament overall with a 44-under 820.

The 25-under-par is the second best score relative to par, in Oregon State school history. The top score in team history came at the 2004 Northwest Collegiat Classic when the Beavers posted a 26-under-par.

Individually, James Allenby also cracked the school’s record books. His 12-under 204 marks the third-best individual score in school history. Allenby capped off the tournament without recording a single round over-par, closing with a final round 2-under-par 70, which placed him 10^th overall. Diego Velasquez and Alex Williams tied for 53^rd with scores of 4-under-par 212. Vincent Johnson finished the tournament strong, recording 2-under-par 70’s in the final two rounds. Johnson’s 1-under-par 215 tied him for 76^th. Mitch Gillis finished with 226 and tied for 128^th.

“It’s an unfortunate way to end the season, but we had a great season and a great opportunity to compete at the national championships.” Coach Brian Watts said following the tournament. “We were one shot away from the chance to compete at nationals and achieve our goals. That hurts. But to play in the post season was a great experience for the team, not only competing for a birth in the NCAA, but beating a lot of top ranked teams from around the country.

“Their individual efforts were phenomenal. They gave it their best and as their coach, that’s all I can ask for. We got off to a great start. We had some opportunities for birdies, but we just didn’t make any putts coming in and that was the difference. They did everything they needed to, but we just came up a little short.”

“Looking back at our season, we had a great season. They took so many good things away from the season, so we’re not going to let one round ruin a great year. With all the hard work these young men put in all year, they came away with a great experience; they were rewarded. Most of the guys are returning next year, so this is great motivation for them. These young men can hold their head up high knowing that they did so many good things that are going to hold huge dividends for this program in years to come.”

Arizona State’s Benjamin Alvarado finished atop the individual leader board with a three-round 18-under 196.

Team Scores:

1 South Carolina (273 269 278) 820

2 UCLA (268 273 281) 822

T3 Southern California (277 273 274) 824

T3 Arizona State (275 275 274) 824

5 Vanderbilt (283 276 267) 826

6 Arizona (282 275 271) 828

7 Stanford (277 280 274) 831

8 New Mexico (275 282 276) 833

T9 Wake Forest (285 277 277) 839

T9 East Tennessee St. (278 277 284) 839

The top 10 teams advance to the Championships

Tiebreaker was determined in a playoff

T9 Oregon State (281 275 283) 839

T12 Brigham Young (283 280 278) 841

T12 Pepperdine (277 285 279) 841

14 Washington (284 271 287) 842

15 California (280 282 281) 843

T16 Colorado State (284 284 276) 844

T16 UNLV (281 281 282) 844

18 Augusta State (284 285 278) 847

19 Oregon (292 281 284) 857

20 Nevada (289 286 286) 861

21 Denver (285 290 287) 862

22 UC Irvine (289 288 286) 863

23 Pennsylvania (288 293 284) 865

24 San Diego State (296 289 299) 884

25 Detroit (297 297 293) 887

26 Bucknell (299 299 295) 893

27 Monmouth (302 295 311) 908

Individual Leaders:

1 Benjamin Alvarado, Arizona State (67 65 66) 198

T2 Kevin Chappell, UCLA (66 68 67) 201

T2 Jon Curran, Vanderbilt (71 65 65) 201

T2 Jamie Lovemark, USC (69 63 69) 201

T5 Chance Pipitone, Pennsylvania (67 70 65) 202

T5 Daniel Summerhays, BYU (72 67 63) 202

OSU Scores:

T10 James Allenby (66 68 70) 204

T53 Diego Velasquez (74 67 71) 212

T53 Alex Williams (70 70 72) 212

T76 Vincent Johnson (75 70 70) 215

T128 Mitch Gillis (71 72 83) 226