EUGENE – Less than a week away from its season opener, the University of Oregon men’s golf team picked up its second top 25 ranking of the preseason with its No. 14 pick in the Golf World / Nike Golf Coaches’ Poll.

Oregon was one of six Pac-12 teams in the top 13 overall with No. 3 California, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Washington, No. 9 USC and No. 11 Stanford.

The top five also included No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Texas, and the complete poll is available at the http://collegiategolf.com/coaches-poll.html URL address.

Among those rankings, Alabama is the returning NCAA team champion after it defeated Texas in the match play final last June at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. Oregon and California were semifinalists, and the other quarterfinalists included Kent State, San Diego Washington and UCLA.

Under the direction of seventh-year head coach Casey Martin, the Ducks return another talented lineup in 2012-13 that welcomes five newcomers – freshmen Max Carter (Lake Oswego, Ore.), Zach Foushee (West Linn, Ore.), Brandon McIver (Billings, Mont.), Sulman Raza (Eugene, Ore.) and Ryann Ree (Redondo Beach, Calif.).

The Duck roster also sports eight returnees – the trio of seniors Tyler Parker, Jack Pennington and Robbie Ziegler, junior Ben Itterman, the sophomore trio of Rak Cho, Tye Gabriel and Jonathan Woo and redshirt freshman Noah Sheikh.

Earlier in the preseason, UO was tabbed No. 23 in the Golfweek Preseason Poll. Likewise, five other Pac-12 teams stood top 25 - No. 2 California, 5 UCLA, No. 6 Washington, No. 10 Stanford and No. 12 USC.

Other teams in the Golfweek top five included No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Georgia Tech, and a full listing of the top 25 is available at the www.GolfWeek.com website at the http://golfweek.com/news/college-golf/men URL address.

Next week, the Ducks open their season in the Kikkor Golf Husky Invitational at the Cascade Course at Gold Mountain in Bremerton, Wash., Monday-Tuesday 17-18.

Live results will be available at the www.Golfstat.com website at the http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=3817 URL address, and more event information will be available at the www.GoHuskies.com website.


Golf World Nike Golf Coaches Preseason Poll
http://collegiategolf.com/coaches-poll.html

Rank     University (First Place Votes)     Points     2012 NCAA Finish
1     Alabama (13)     558     2
2     Texas (8)     514     1
3     California (1)     483     Semifinals
4     UCLA     474     Quarterfinals
5     Washington (1)     408     Quarterfinals
6     Auburn     390     T15
7     Georgia Tech     374     N/A
8     Arkansas     358     N/A
9     Southern California     348     T15
10     Texas A&M     333     14
11     Stanford     299     T19
12     Florida     271     T12
13     UNLV     228     N/A
14     Oregon     226     Semifinals
15     North Florida     215     T12
16     Florida State     212     T8
17     San Diego State     211     Quarterfinals
18     Kent State     183     Quarterfinals
19     Georgia     161     17
20     UCF     144     T19
21     Duke     141     N/A
22     Virginia     128     T22
23     New Mexico     105     N/A
24     Clemson     93     N/A
25     Oklahoma     92     11
           
Dropped From Ranking:     N/A        
           
Others Receiving Votes: Illinois, 87; Liberty, 65; Oklahoma State, 55; Chattanooga, 53; South Carolina, 52; LSU, 36; SMU, 34; Iowa, 31; Tennessee, 25; North Texas, 24; TCU, 23; Wake Forest, 12; San Jose State, 9; Saint Mary's College, 6; NC State, 5; Texas Tech, 5; Memphis, 4.




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