In golf, some days it just doesn’t happen.
The Oregon men’s golf team shot their worst round of the tournament, 298, Tuesday and fell to sixth in the final standings of the 56th annual Western Intercollegiate in San Jose, Calif.
The Ducks were in second place after two rounds Monday, firing off a 291 and 278, trailing Washington by 23 strokes.
Oregon and Washington have been in steep competition recently as they tied for second at the Cleveland Southwest Invitational March 4-5, and the Ducks edged the Huskies by one stroke in the Oregon Invitational two weeks ago.
Oregon’s final 867 was not enough to hold onto their first-day position.
“Sixth is still a decent finish,” Oregon head coach Steve Nosler said. “It was disappointing that we couldn’t keep things going in the right direction like we have been, but I think we’ll come right back.”
Washington stole the tournament and shot 834 to win by 20 strokes over
Fresno State.
San Jose State, the tournament host, took third with 856, followed by Kansas at 865, UC Irvine right behind with 866 and Oregon.
Senior Brandon Harnden shot a four over par 74 Tuesday and tied for 11th at two-over 212. Harnden had a career-best 65 in Monday’s second round. Senior Aaron Byers tied for 25th at 219 after a disappointing final round 79.
The Ducks best individual round Tuesday was a 71 from junior Chris Carnahan, who finished tied for 30th at 220. Junior John Ellis played consistent to finish at 222 in a tie for 42nd and sophomore Mike Sica anchored the Ducks with a respectable 226 in a tie for 55th.
“We just didn’t get the job done today,” said Nosler. “We didn’t have to do anything spectacular. If we would have just played decently, we’d have been OK.”
Oregon is not out of the action for long, as they will compete in the Thunderbird Invitational, beginning Friday at the Karsten Golf Course in Temp, Ariz.