Beavers Earn Trip To NCAA Regionals For Seventh Consecutive Year
May 6, 2013
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Oregon State men's golf team earned its seventh consecutive berth to the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships and will be the No. 9 seed in the regional that competes May 16-18 in Tallahassee, Fla.
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 The Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Atlanta, Ga., from May 28 to June 2.
"This is exciting for our program," Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn said. "This shows we've built a program that is consistently one of the best in the nation. I'm excited about the way we are playing and look forward to the opportunity to advance to nationals."
The Beavers have become a regular at the NCAA Regionals with seven consecutive appearances, including trips in 15 of the past 21 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 21 years.
"We need all five guys to play well to make it to nationals, and that is hard to do," Reehoorn said. "Even if we don't have all five guys playing well, we can ham and egg it with four guys. We really need our senior leadership to step up. We need them since we are traveling across the country."
After a 26-year absence from the NCAA Championships between 1968 and 1993, Oregon State earned a trip in 1994 (25th) and returned in 2001 (tie for 12th) and 2010 (16th). The Beavers best finish at a regional championship came in 2010 when they finished in fourth place.
The Beavers have enjoyed another successful year with four top-5 finishes, including winning the team title at the Mark Simpson Invitational in Erie, Colo., where they shot a 21-under 843 to equal the fifth-lowest three-round score in school history.
Senior Nick Chianello became the first Oregon State golfer to win an individual crown outright when he won the ASU Thunderbird Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., and junior David Fink leads the team with a scoring average of 71.74. Seniors Nick Sherwood and Matt Rawitzer and redshirt freshman Brian Jung will join Chianello and Fink in the Beavers' lineup at regionals.
"We've done a lot of good things this year," Reehoorn said. "We've had a lot of good success individually with someone finishing in the top 10 almost every tournament. We had a win by Nick (Chianello), Fink had two second-place finishes and Brian Jung finished second at the beginning of the year. Somehow, if we can do that, you never know. This is a tough region with a hometown team and a top-5 team in the nation."
The Beavers will compete against 12 other teams, including Pac-12 rivals Washington and Oregon, at the 6,965-yard Golden Eagle Golf & Country Club in Tallahassee, Fla. Designed by Tom Fazio, it was rated "the most challenging course in Florida" by the United States Golf Association just six months after opening in December 1986. Golfweek Magazine has ranked Golden Eagle among the top 50 real-estate development courses in the Southeast, citing its distinctive design and enhancement of the property's natural beauty as "a cut above the rest."
"None of our guys have seen this course," Reehoorn said. "The guys are excited about going to Florida. As a coach you worry about traveling so many time zones. But we'll be ready to go and see what happens."
Golden Eagle Golf and Country Club - Tallahassee, Florida
1. Washington
2. Georgia Tech
3. Florida State
4. North Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. Wake Forest
7. North Carolina State
8. Oregon
9. Oregon State
10. Iowa
11. South Florida
12. San Diego
13. Loyola Marymount
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