The slang term “like gangbusters” is defined in Webster’s dictionary as, “with great impact, vigor, or zeal.”
With that in mind, here’s Oregon head coach Steve Nosler’s assessment of his men’s golf team: “Our kids came out and played like gangbusters today. We’ve been in a position to win before, but it doesn’t mean anything until you do it.”
Well, now it means that Oregon is one of the top teams on the West Coast this season as the Ducks extended their day one lead by 11 strokes to surge past second-place Washington and capture the 55th annual Western Intercollegiate tournament in Santa Cruz, Calif.
It was Oregon’s first tournament victory since the 1999 Oregon Duck Invitational after many close calls since. What made the win especially sweet for the Ducks was that they shot an 850 three-round total without having an individual finish first or second overall.
Oregon displayed an evened attack, with sophomores Chris Carnahan and John Ellis leading the way with a tied-for-third finish after their identical scores of 210.
“I’ve said it before that the strength of this team is our balance, and we had four kids finish in the top-17, which is pretty amazing,” Nosler said.
Senior Matt Genovese shot a one-over par 71 Tuesday to finish the tournament with a tied-for-10th score of 210.
Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day came from redshirt freshman Mike Sica, who completed his first varsity tournament with a respectable score of 218 and a tied-for-17th finish. Sica followed up his first two rounds of 70 and 71 with a career-low round of 69.
Oregon’s other finisher was junior Aaron Byers, who finished tied-for-35th with a score of 222.
“This is a really great course and a really good tournament,” Nosler said. “It is a very good feeling to win it.”
The substantial 17-stroke margin of victory was Oregon’s largest winning gap since it won the 1991 Robert Holmes Collegiate Invitational by an equal amount of 17 strokes ahead of San Jose State.
Oregon finished ahead of 17 other top-notch teams, including Pacific-10 Conference rivals Washington (2nd, 867), California (5th, 877), Stanford (tied-for-7th, 882) and Oregon State (9th, 884).
Lars Johansson from San Diego State held on to his day one lead and took home first-place among individuals with a three round score of 132, four strokes ahead of second place finisher Jason Higton of Pacific.
As for the Ducks, there are only two tournaments left before the Pac-10 Championships take place from April 27-29 down in Stanford, Calif. Oregon plays on the same course the week before at the U.S. Intercollegiate on April 21-22, but first they will travel to Tempe, Ariz., this weekend.
Oregon faces off with a talented set of teams on Saturday and Sunday in the Thunderbird Invitational on the Karsten Golf Course near the Arizona State campus.
“We came to play and this certainly should give us some confidence going into the final months of the season,” said Nosler, whose Ducks won a tournament that was held outside of the state of Oregon for the first time since the 1996 Lexus Classic in Fresno, Calif. “I just could not be more proud of the way these kids played today.”