Beavers Earn Trip To NCAA Regionals For Sixth Consecutive Year
May 7, 2012
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Oregon State men's golf team earned its sixth consecutive berth to the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships where it will be the No. 9 seed in the regional that will compete May 17-19 in Stanford, Calif.
The six regionals will consist of a three-day, 54-hole tournament with 13 teams at three of the regions and 14 teams at the other three. The low five teams from each region will advance to the NCAA Championships at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., from May 29 to June 3.
"To make it to our sixth consecutive NCAA Regional shows the program is definitely going in the right direction," Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn said. "We've been able to attract quality student-athletes who can compete at the highest level and want to be part of what Oregon State is all about."
The Beavers have become a regular at the NCAA Regionals with six consecutive appearances, including trips in 14 of the past 20 years. It's taking that next step that Reehoorn wants to consistently make as Oregon State has advanced to the NCAA Championships just three times in those 20 years.
"Oregon State has enjoyed success the last few years, but we've only been to the NCAA Championships once," Reehoorn said. "In order to be a prominent program, we need to get to the NCAA Championships each and every year. I think we are definitely on the right track, but we won't be satisfied until we are regular participants at the NCAA Championships."
After a 26-year absence from the NCAA Championships between 1968 and 1993, Oregon State earned a trip in 1994 (25th) and again in 2011 (tie for 12th). The Beavers finished fourth at the 2010 regionals, their best finish in school history, and advanced to the NCAA Championships in Ooletwah, Tenn., where they finished in 16th place.
The Beavers have enjoyed another successful year with two team titles (Pacific Invitational and Fresno State Lexus Classic), their most in a season since 2007, and a fifth place finish at the Pac-12 Championships that were held at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis. At the conference tournament, Oregon State finished behind four of the nation's Top 11 teams, according to the golfstat.com rankings, and ahead of No. 9 Stanford and No. 13 Washington.
"I'm excited about what we have accomplished this season, but there is so much more this group is capable of accomplishing," Reehoorn said. "To get through the NCAA Regional and find our way in to Riviera is going to be very difficult. But if we can do that I will feel really good about our season.
"We need to keep doing what we did at the Pac-12 Championship," he added. "If we can take the same confidence to the first tee that we did at home at Trysting Tree we can compete with anyone. It's not about ability; it's about confidence."
The Beavers will compete against 12 other teams at the Stanford Golf Course, which was designed in 1930 by renowned golf course architects William Bell and George C. Thomas. Located in the foothills above the Stanford University campus, the golf course is consistently rated as one of the world's best and was named the third best college course in the nation by golf coaches in 2009.
Oregon State is very familiar with the course as the Pac-12 Championships were held there last year and the U.S. Intercollegiate was held there this spring when the Beavers finished in seventh place with junior Nick Chianello posting a top-20 finish.
"Stanford is a tough course," Reehoorn said. "It will definitely help that we have seen the course a few times in the last year. We've seen just about every possibility for hole locations and how they will setup the course. It definitely can't hurt to be playing a course we've seen a few times."
"To travel across the country is always a challenge," Reehoorn said. "If we get sent to Michigan or Kentucky I will feel pretty good about it as the climate and type of grass we will see is probably pretty similar to home. If we somehow end up in Florida or Oklahoma then it presents different challenges than just the travel because of the climate and type of grass."
Stanford Golf Course -- Stanford, Calif.
1. California
2. Stanford
3. San Diego State
4. UCF
5. LSU
6. UAB
7. Wichita State
8. Tennessee
9. Oregon State
10. Southeastern Louisiana
11. San Francisco
12. San Jose State
13. UC Davis
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