By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN

Tredway, a 21-year-old Ashland High graduate, was Oregon's No. 2 player in the Pacific-10 Conference championship tournament last week at Orinda Country Club in Orinda, Calif. He shot rounds of 71, 75, 71 and 78 for a 294 total. He finished 23rd overall in the individual competition. The Ducks finished seventh as a team.

Ben Crane, Ryan Lavoie, Chris Cone and Derek Croskrey round out the Oregon lineup at the May 14 regional on Karsten Golf Course.

Tredway's final-round 78 cost him a chance to make the Pac-10's top 10.

"I got a little too aggressive the last day," says Tredway. "I felt I needed to go out and make some birdies to win since I started the day six strokes back of the leader."

"I learned my lesson there," says Tredway. "I learned I have to go out and play my own game and not worry about what the other players are doing. I can't control what they're doing, anyway."

Tredway played Karsten Golf Course two weeks ago in the Arizona State Invitational tournament.

"I think that will give me a little advantage," says Tredway. "I know what to expect. I like the course, but I wish they would soften the greens. They are really hard and fast."

Since putting may be the strength of his game, Tredway says he's not overly concerned about slick greens.

"The main thing you want to do is not get the ball above the hole," says Tredway. "You want to stay below the hole and be putting uphill as much as you can."

Tredway says he'll be after a top-10 finish.

"Actually, I'd like to win it," he says. "But the competition will be very tough."

Nine of the 18 teams will qualify for the NCAA tournament in two weeks.

"We have to step it up to do that, but it's possible," says Tredway. "We're capable of doing it."

In 1997, Oregon finished 12th in the West Regional and missed the NCAA tourney by five strokes.

"I'd never been to the Pac-10 or the regional tournaments, so this is a nice first step for me," says Tredway, who redshirted last year because of a shoulder injury he suffered in a car accident.

Tredway says he's continually trying to prove to Oregon coach Steve Nosler that he belongs in the lineup. He says Nosler has been hesitant to keep him in the lineup at times in the past.

"Coach (Nosler) and I have had some problems going back to my freshman year in terms of him believing in me," says Tredway. "But I'm coming off my best college tournament (Pac-10), and that's helped. It's worked itself out for the most part."

He enters play with Oregon's No. 3 scoring average of 73.8 strokes per round.

"I've improved a lot," he says. "I'm hitting the ball much farther, and my consistency is better.

"I've always had a good short game. I'm almost to the point I can overpower courses with my distance. I'm hitting a lot of sand wedges into par 4s, and I'm reaching some par-5 holes.