What a difference a round of golf can make.
After shooting rounds of 283 and 279 on the first day of the U.S. Intercollegiate in Palo Alto, Calif., the No. 23 Oregon men’s golf team shot a 305 Sunday to drop from second place to seventh overall.
“Obviously, I’m very disappointed,” Oregon head coach Steve Nosler said. “We had a chance to make a statement today, but there were some times when we didn’t make very good decisions on the course, and it really came back to bite us.”
The Ducks’ duo of John Ellis and Aaron Byers shot significantly higher scores in the final round than in the opening rounds. Byers had been in second place overall after one round but shot a 79 Sunday to finish tied for 23rd. Ellis had been fourth and shot a 76 to end the tournament pacing the Oregon golfers, but finished 20th overall.
Oregon was also hurt by the final rounds of Chris Carnahan and Matt Genovese, who shot 77 and 78, respectively. Carnahan finished 43rd, while Genovese ended in 48th. Brandon Harnden was the only Duck to improve on the final day, shooting a 74 to finish tied with Genovese.
The Ducks took their tumble at the Stanford Golf Course, site of the Pacific-10 Conference Championships starting Friday.
Nosler was optimistic that his team could repeat its first-day performance from the U.S. Intercollegiate at the important Pac-10s.
“We did play very, very well the first two rounds and proved that we can handle this course,” Nosler said. “We just need to find a way to sustain our momentum beyond the first two rounds when we come back here for the Pac-10 Championships.”
The Ducks went head-to-head with all nine Pac-10 schools at the U.S. Intercollegiate and fell behind five of them. Oregon beat out Oregon State, California and Washington State, but lost to No. 18 Arizona, No. 4 Arizona State, UCLA, No. 6 Southern California and Stanford.
The Wildcats won the tournament by 15 strokes over the Sun Devils. Arizona’s Chris Nallen, unranked coming into the tournament, surprised the field and shot a 7-under-par 206. Nallen beat out Eugene native Jeff Quinney, ranked 11th nationally, and teammate Andy Connell for the medalist honors.
The Ducks will compete in the Pac-10 Championships at the Stanford Golf Course starting Friday.