May 17, 2008
Results
BREMERTON, Wash. - The No. 15 UNLV men's golf team shot a final-round 20-over-par 308 on Saturday and finished in 24th place at the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Golf West Regional Championship, which was played at the Olympic Course (par 72, 7,111 yards) at Gold Mountain Golf Club.
USC held on for the team title after firing a final-round even-par 288 to finish the tournament at 2-under 862. Oregon finished second at even-par 864 after shooting a 3-under 285 on Saturday. Clemson was third at 3-over, Washington was fourth at 10-over, while UCLA rounded out the top five 12-over. Stanford was sixth at 14-over, St. Mary's was seventh at 20-over, Arizona State was eighth at 21-over, while Pepperdine, San Diego State and Texas all tied for ninth at 24-over.
A three-way team playoff between Pepperdine, SDSU and Texas took place for the final two team spots to advance to the NCAA Championship. Texas and San Diego State earned those spots with scores of 2-under during the playoff, while Pepperdine failed to advance with a playoff score of even-par. UNLV finished the tournament at 56-over 920.
Oregon's Joey Benedetti won the regional's individual title by four shots at 9-under 207 after turning in his third consecutive 3-under 69 on Saturday. There was a three-way tie for second place at 5-under by USC's Rory Hie, St. Mary's' Michael McRae and Washington's Nick Taylor.
The low 10 teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will now move on to the NCAA Championship, which will be held May 28-31 at The Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. (hosted by Purdue).
Pepperdine's Eric Shriver was the first individual qualifier, tying for 11th at even-par 216. Wisconsin's Tyler Obermueller, Wisconsin's Dan Woltman and Boise State's Troy Merritt were part of a playoff for the final individual spot out of the West Regional. All three golfers tied for 19th overall at 2-over 218, but Woltman won the playoff with an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole to claim the final spot.
Sophomore Brett Kanda led all Rebel players with a tie for 71st. Kanda shot a final-round 1-over 73 and finished the tournament at 12-over 228. Other Rebel players (final-round scores, places and totals): junior Seung-Su Han (78, T101st, 16-over 232), senior Matt Kinsinger (81, T106th, 17-over 233), freshman Ji Moon (77, T106th, 17-over 233) and sophomore Eddie Olson (80, T111th, 18-over 234).
