Men's Golf Earns NCAA Regional Bid
CORVALLIS – The Oregon State men's golf team will make its first NCAA appearance since 2003, as it was announced today that the Beavers will be part of the West Regional, hosted by Arizona State, on May 17-19.
The Beavers are the 18th seed for the event, held at ASU's Karsten Golf Course. Eighteen holes will be played each day.
The 27 teams selected to go to Tempe are: 1. Stanford; 2. UCLA; 3. UNLV; 4. Southern California; 5. East Tennessee State; 6. Brigham Young; 7. Arizona State; 8. Wake Forest; 9. Arizona; 10. UC Irvine; 11. South Carolina; 12. Washington; 13. Vanderbilt; 14. Augusta State; 15. Pepperdine; 16. San Diego State; 17. New Mexico; 18. Oregon State; 19. Colorado State; 20. Oregon; 21. California; 22. Nevada; 23. Denver; 24. Pennsylvania; 25. Detroit; 26. Bucknell; 27. Monmouth.
"It's our first appearance since 2003, so we are really looking forward to a chance to compete and play our way into the NCAA Championships," OSU Coach Brian Watts said. "It doesn't matter where we are seeded, we are going to have an opportunity to play and that is all I can ask for. We've been preparing at Trysting Tree (OSU's home venue) and the course here is in great shape. "We are focusing on fairways and hitting greens right now. The speed of the greens here are similar to what we'll see at regionals. Our depth has really been the difference this year. The competition within the team from top to bottom has been strong. The consistency we have had with our top three golfers has also made a huge difference." OSU will need to finish in the top 10 to make the NCAA Championships, hosted by Virginia Commonwealth at Golden Horseshoe Golf Course in Williamsburg, Md., on May 30-June 2. This is OSU's ninth NCAA Regional appearance in the past 15 years. The Beavers have advanced to the NCAA Championships twice in that time, last in 2001. The Beavers are led by junior James Allenby, who is on pace to set a school single-season record with a 71.94 stroke average. He was named All-Pac-10 honorable mention after finishing in a tie for 14th place at the Pac-10 Championships. The men's golf team is the fifth program from Oregon State to compete in postseason this year, joining football, wrestling, women's gymnastics and women's swimming. The Beavers also expect to be represented over the next several weeks in postseason by their baseball (2006 national champions), softball, women's track and men's and women's rowing teams.
