Golf 2nd after day 1UA's Sabbatini is top Wildcat with his 1-under 2-round total

The Ducks find themselves firmly planted at the front door and atop the standings at the Pacific 10 Championships after the first two rounds were completed yesterday.

It also helps, of course, that the Ducks are playing at home.

Oregon is three shots ahead of perennial big dogs Arizona, Arizona State and Southern Cal.

The Ducks fired a two round total 722 on the par-72, 6,847 yard course at the Eugene Country Club, just ahead of the trio of schools tied for second.

Stanford fired a 728 to take sole possession of fifth place overall.

Oregon State, UCLA, California, Washington and Washington State round out the standings.

Chad Wright of USC leads the individual race after shooting a blazing 9-under-par 135, six shots ahead of Conrad Ray of Stanford. Brandon DiTullio of UCLA, Jeff Richardson of OSU, Joel Kribel of Stanford and Ben Crane of Oregon are in a logjam tied for third at 2-under-par 142.

Arizona had all six of its golfers place in the top 30, led by the familiar face of junior Rory Sabbatini.

Sabbatini shot a first round 74, but followed that effort with a stellar 3-under-par 69 in the afternoon round to finish at 1-under after the first day.

Sophomores Andy Barnes and Todd Rose, along with freshman Scott Moore finished the first 36 holes tied for 16th at 1-over.

Freshman Derek Gillespie stands at 4-over 148, while senior Gary Matthews rounds out the Wildcats' scores at 5-over par.

Sun Devils Chris Hanell and Chris Johnson each shot 1-under to lead ASU to its team total 5-over-par.

For the Trojans, along with Wright's first place effort, Nick Webb shot an even-par 144, while Roger Tambellini stumbled a bit to finish the first two rounds at 148.

Round three begins today at 8 a.m. The tournament concludes tomorrow.