Wise leads UW at Oregon Invitational

The University of Washington men’s golf team had a strong showing last week at the Oregon Duck Invitational at Emerald Valley Golf Course in Creswell, Ore. The Huskies shot a 28-over 892 during the 54-hole tournament, which was good for a sixth-place finish overall in the 11-team field. The Dawgs finished the tournament with a final round 9-over 297, as they finished in a three-way tie with the University of Portland and the University of Pacific.

The San Diego State Aztecs won the tournament for the fourth time since 2001. The team was led by senior Aaron Goldberg, who finished the tournament at even par, after shooting a 3-over 75 in a difficult final day.

“This was a very satisfying victory for us,” SDSU coach Ryan Donovan told goaztecs.com. “The course got the best of us in certain places, but our players persevered and were able to build on the momentum that they started from the second round all the way to the finish.”

The Huskies were led by junior John Wise, who finished in a tie for ninth overall with freshman Nick Ellis of Washington State. Wise trailed Ellis by two strokes heading into the third and final day of the tournament. However, he shot a 1-under 71 to catch the Cougar freshman from Wenatchee.

Freshman Tze Huang Choo gave a strong performace for the Huskies. Choo, a native of Singapore, turned in the best effort of his career as a Husky; he came in tied for 15th overall. He led the Dawgs in scoring after two rounds, but struggled to a 5-over 77 on the final day.

The third golfer to place in the top-25 of the tournament was sophomore Nick Taylor. He shot a 9-over 225 for the tournament and 2-over 74 on the final day to recover from an 8-over 80 on the tournament’s opening round.

The individual title was taken home by Pacific’s freshman standout T.J. Bordeaux. A native of Tacoma, Bordeaux was 6-under for the tournament and won by five strokes against Oregon senior Joey Benedetti.

The Huskies rounded out their scoring with sophomore Darren Wallace finishing tied for 38th at 11-over, senior Zach Bixler finishing tied for 52nd at 19-over and freshman Kevin Spooner tied for 62nd at 30-over. Spooner played as an individual, which meant that his score did not count toward the team standings.

The Huskies have a break this week, but will return to action April 7 and 8 at the Missouri Tiger Intercollegiate in Columbia, Mo. After the Tiger Intercollegiate, the Huskies will play one more match before traveling to Fairfax, Calif., to compete in the Pac-10 championships.

[Reach reporter Evan Riggs at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]