“The gun goes off,” Oregon men’s golf coach Steve Nosler said.
Nosler could not have summed up the start of the Ducks’ season more perfectly. A mere day after their first practice, the Oregon duffers were up in Lebanon, swinging for the fences at the Mallard Creek Golf Course in the Northwest Collegiate Classic Golf Tournament.
The Northwest Classic is the first of four tournaments Oregon will play in before the season really swings into action in February. Nosler said that the Ducks will look to test themselves right away.
“You can’t try to dodge people,” Nosler said. “You’ve got to play the tough tournaments, so you can be ready for the postseason.”
Although the postseason is eight months away, the Ducks will face some of the nation’s top teams this fall. After the Northwest Classic, where Oregon was the top-ranked team, the Ducks play the Husky Invitational, the Pepperdine Intercollegiate and the Prestige at Palm Desert this fall.
The schedule matches Oregon’s fall schedule from last year.
While Oregon will play tough competition in the fall, Nosler said he expects to formulate a lineup in the few tournaments before the winter break.
The Ducks will once again be led by a group of players instead of just one. Three seniors, three juniors and two sophomores will vie for playing time, with few players holding concrete spots.
Nosler is excited about the years piled up in his team.
“There’s not much of a substitute for experience,” Nosler said.
A quartet of golfers will most likely start each tournament. John Ellis, Aaron Byers, Chris Carnahan and Brandon Harnden finished as the top-five Oregon golfers at the NCAA West Regional last year, and will likely enter this season in the top four slots.
Last year’s regional tournament, where the Ducks placed 18th and missed a trip to the NCAAs by eight spots, is a sore subject for Nosler.
“We were disappointed as far as what happened to us,” Nosler said. “But we had a good year, we just didn’t finish well.”
Nosler is optimistic that his team could play well right away — even with a lack of team practice — because most of the team members have been practicing all summer.
“I expect them to be ready,” Nosler said. “A lot of them have played a lot of golf this summer.”
The Ducks’ next tournament will be Oct. 1-2, when the Ducks travel to Seattle for the Husky Invitational.
On the women’s side, head coach Shannon Rouillard will try to replace an irreplaceable player in four-year letter winner Jerilyn White.
This year, the team could replace White’s low scores with low scores from senior Kathy Cho — who started every tournament for the Ducks last year — and sophomore Lacy Erickson and junior Megan Heckeroth.
Oregon opens its season Sept. 24 at the NCAA Fall Preview, which every year features the top women’s teams from the season before.