The Oregon men’s golf team kicked off The Prestige tournament on Monday with a 3-over team score at the Club at PGA West in La Quinta, California.

Owen Avrit and Gregory Solhaug led the way for the Ducks in the first round, both shooting 1-under for the day.

The duo had successful showings in the fall as well. Avrit shot under par in nine of 15 total rounds and Solhaug achieved a career best 4-under tournament at the Saint Mary’s Invitational.

Both players scored below their season average (70) on Monday as they finished the day tied for third for individual play. The team tied for first place overall with No. 18 Vanderbilt. Oregon junior Nate Stember also shot a 1-over 72 while freshman Eric Doyle went 4-over, for a 75.

Oregon will head into day two tied with Vanderbilt. Reid Davenport led the Commodores on day one, shooting a 2-under 69, tied with Davis Bryant of Colorado State for first in individual scoring.

The front nine proved to be a lot more challenging for the Ducks than the back nine. The four players with scores that counted combined for 7-over on the front nine, with Avrit finishing as the only player to go under. The Ducks shot 3-under on the back.

Solhaug shot a 3-under, 33 on the back nine including three birdies in a span of five holes.

The Ducks found an advantage on the leaderboard through the par 5s in round one. The team shot 4-under on par 5s, with only four other teams going below par on these holes.

With six of the 24 teams in the Prestige in the top 25, the Ducks have had a good showing on day one. Most impressively, they finished 18 strokes ahead of No. 5 Pepperdine and 15 strokes ahead of No. 9 Stanford.

The Ducks will look to hold their lead and build off a strong day one on Tuesday.