Oregon claims OGIO title, UCSB earns second

Oregon’s Daniel Miernicki and Jack Dukeminier each shot 4-under par 212 and teammate Robbie Ziegler carded a 3-under par 213 to lead the Ducks to the team championship at the 2011 OGIO-Santa Barbara Invitational at Sandpiper Golf Club in Santa Barbara on Tuesday.
 
As a team, Oregon easily won the title with a 12-under par 852, 27 shots better than UC Santa Barbara, which finished at 15-over par 879.  Fresno State was third at 21-over par 885, while Pacific (+30), Cal State Northridge (+31) and San Jose State (+33) were bunched-up in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
 
For the Gauchos, it was their sixth top-six finish in their last seven tournaments.
 
“I’m always happy with a second-place finish,” said UCSB head coach Steve Lass.  “But I would be even happier if Oregon hadn’t been in the field.  Seeing them play makes me realize how dominant a team can be.  We’ve had an outstanding winter and spring season, but not dominant.  We played with them (the Ducks) for three rounds and I hope we learned something from their approach.”
 
Fresno State’s Bhavik Patel tied Oregon’s Ziegler for third-place.  Ziegler was tied with Dukeminier for the individual lead entering the final round.  A pair of Gauchos, Andrew Gunson and Tyler Weir, tied for fifth-place at even-par 216.
 
Sandpiper is located right along the Pacific Coast north of Santa Barbara and on Tuesday, it was socked-in by fog for much of the day.
 
“The tournament itself went great,” Lass said.  “But for a while, I was worried that we were going to have to stop play because of the fog.  I really wasn’t sure if we could go on, but in the end it worked out and I think it was a great experience for all of the teams involved.”
 
While there were a handful of sub-70 scores recorded in the first two rounds on the par-72 course, there was just one shot in the final round.  Dakota Duerr of Cal State Fullerton carded a 3-under par 69 to finish at 12-over par for the tournament.
 
Glen Scher was the third Gaucho finisher.  In his last tournament, the sophomore from Thousand Oaks became the first UCSB player in nearly four years to win an individual title and the first in nearly a decade to win one in the spring season.  He followed-up his victory at the Barona Collegiate Cup with a 9-over par 225, tying for 20th-place.
 
Paul Otte (+12, 228) and Tyler Sterk (+13, 229) tied for 32nd and 36th respectively.  
 
Kei Kita, playing as an independent, tied for 10th with a 3-over par 219.  Scott Lewis (+9, 225, tied for 20th), Chris Rendler (+12, 228, tied for 32nd) and Jesse Ferris (+21, 237, tied for 73rd) rounded out the UCSB participants.
 
The Gauchos return to action on Monday, April 4 when they travel to the Wyoming Cowboy Classic at the Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.