The Oregon men’s golf team completed the Amer Ari Invitational with a third-place finish on Saturday. Texas Tech won the event by eight strokes over the second place USC Trojans. The Ducks improved in the standings by two spots over each round after finishing round one in seventh place on Thursday.
Freshman Norman Xiong put together another strong day, after sitting in 71st place after round one, he posted an eight-under par in round two and four-under par in round three. Xiong led the Ducks with a 10-under par finish and tied for seventh overall. He was one stroke better than teammate Wyndam Clark, who finished a three-under par day to end the tournament at nine-under. Clark entered the tournament ranked as the No. 1 collegiate golfer.
Freshman Kevin Geniza and Redshirt senior Nigel Lett golfed as individuals, with Geniza finishing one stroke better at six-under. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Gronlund finished at three-under par, improving 12 spots in the standings, to finish tied for 33^rd place. After finishing even in both the first and second round, sophomore Edwin Yi scored two-under par to finish the tournament with the same score.  Sophomore Sam Foust finished the tournament as the only Ducks player over par, at six-over, to round out the Ducks starting five.
Individually three players tied for first at 16-under par in the Amer Ari Invitational, Fredrik Nilehn (Texas Tech), Rico Hoey (USC) and Jared duToit (Arizona State). Pac-12 teams held five of the top six spots of the invitational.
The Ducks get nearly two weeks off before their next event in Palm Springs, California. They will play in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate on Feb. 17-19.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter: @zlast3445