May 16, 2008

2008 NCAA West Regional - Rd 1 Results

BREMERTON, Wash. - Led by junior David Miller's (Chillicothe, Ohio) 4-over par 76, Navy finished the opening round of the 2008 NCAA Men's Golf West Regional with a 24-over par 312 and is in 26th place out of 27 teams. The Mids are two strokes ahead of Ivy League qualifier Columbia (+26, 314), while they trail 25th-place Denver by three strokes (+21, 309).

Four Pac-10 teams sit atop the team leader board including Oregon (+1, 289) who holds a two-shot lead over No. 1 seed USC, No. 2 seed UCLA and the host Huskies, who finished the day in a three-way tie for second. Rounding out the top-10 teams after the opening 18 holes were Pepperdine (+4, 292), Saint Mary's (+6, 294), Clemson (+7, 295), North Carolina (+7, 295), Stanford (+8, 296) and Texas (+11, 299).

The Ducks were led by Joey Benedetti who fired the low round of the day with a 3-under 69. His one-shot lead over the field is being challenged by Pepperdine's Eric Shriver (-2, 70) and five more players tied for third place, including 2008 Pac-10 Golfer of the Year Kevin Chappell from UCLA (-1, 71).

After garnering First-Team All-Patriot League recognition three weeks ago behind a fifth-place finish at the conference tournament, Miller continues to improve on the links. He turned in five birdies on the back nine en route to his team-leading 4-over par 76 and is tied for 64th among a field of 141 golfers.

Junior Ryan Wielgus (Bethesda, Md.) and senior team captain Chris Renninger (Darnestown, Md.) are tied for 99th after producing a 6-over par 78, while rookie Ben Hayes (Carmichael, Calif.) and senior Erich Schoen (Sylvania, Ohio) are two strokes back in 120th with an 8-over par 80.

"We played well today, but it's always difficult to manage a course you have just walked for the first time a day earlier," said Navy head coach Pat Owen, who has led the Mids to five NCAA Tournament appearances in the last 11 years. "I think having a round under our belts, we will come out and play a strong second round."

Among the teams and individuals playing in the regional are the defending NCAA team champion (Stanford), the defending NCAA individual champion (Jamie Lovemark from USC), and last year's NCAA runner-up - Clemson's Kyle Stanley. Additionally, the regional features 15 teams ranked in the Top-50 of the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index - No. 3 USC, No. 4 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford, No. 10 Florida State, No. 15 UNLV, No. 18 Clemson, No. 19 Arizona State, No. 24 Texas Tech, No. 30 North Carolina, No. 33 Texas, No. 35 Pepperdine, No. 37 San Diego State, No. 41 LSU, No. 42 California, and No. 44 Oregon State. The regional field also includes six conference champions in Florida State (ACC), Arizona State (Pac-10), San Diego (West Coast), Denver (Sun Belt), Navy (Patriot League) and Columbia (Ivy League).

In all, 27 teams are vying for 10 spots to advance to the NCAA Championships hosted by Purdue, May 28-31. The NCAA West Regional continues on Gold Mountain's par 72, 7,111-yard Olympic Course on Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. Live scoring is available on GolfStat.com and GoHuskies.com.