Oregon men’s golf finishes 16th in 17-team field
The Oregon men’s golf team battled a tough course and an even tougher field at the Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate Invitational on Tuesday.
Despite seeing marked improvement from most of the squad, the Ducks could do little to improve on their standings from Monday, finishing the tournament in 16th on the 6,815-yard, par-71 North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif.
Sophomore Justin St. Clair continued to lead the Ducks by firing the most consistent rounds of the tournament. St. Clair bettered his first-round position by five spots after shooting a 72-75-74-221, good for an 8-over par and a tie for 32nd with Stanford’s Brandon Lawson. His final round 74 did not come easily, though, as St. Clair double-bogied Nos. 3 and 18, but was able to birdie Nos. 4, 14, and 15.
The rest of the Ducks did not fair as well as St. Clair. Sophomore Gregg LaVoie, who fired an opening round 72, struggled to maintain his momentum and eventually fell into a tie for 56th after firing second and third round 77s to finish with a 13-over 226. Senior Mike Sica made the biggest jump on the leaderboard on Tuesday. Sica rebounded from his opening round 81 by firing a 71-75 to finish with a 227, good for a tie for 58th. Senior Jimmy White finished in tie for 80th with a 235, while freshman Matt Ma finished in 84th with a 238.
Oregon finished the tournament with a 49-over 901, finishing 55 strokes behind tournament winner Texas. The Longhorns secured the title by finishing with a five-under 847, fifteen strokes ahead of tournament host USC, which finished with a 10-over 862. TCU and BYU finished tied for third at 872, while California rounded out the top five with a team score of 874.
Arizona State, national No. 3 UCLA, Tennessee, Stanford and Alabama round out the top ten.
Individually, Texas’ Matthew Rosenfeld led the field with a 5-under 208. Rosenfeld held the lead for the entire breadth of the tournament, holding off fellow Longhorns Jason Hartwick and Jeff Bell, who finished in a tie for second with Cal’s Peter Tomasulo at 4-under 209. Arizona State’s Chez Reavie finished in fifth with a 1-under 212.
The Ducks will next look to regroup and gain some positive momentum when they return home and host the Duck Invitational March 22-23 in Eugene.

— Brian Smith