The Oregon men’s golf team continues its early portion of the 2004 golf season at the TaylorMade/Waikoloa Intercollegiate on the big island of Hawaii. The Ducks, along with 20 other schools — three of which are ranked in the top six of this week’s Golfweek rankings — will compete on the par-72, 6,594-yard Waikoloa King’s Course in Waikoloa, Hawaii.
The Ducks will look to improve on last year’s 14th place finish, when they came in 31 strokes behind the winner, No. 4 UCLA. They also will also look to improve on their inconsistent play, which has resulted in only two top-10 finishes in the 2003-2004 season; a tie for fourth at the Northwest Collegiate Classic and a ninth place finish at the Husky Invitational.
As the season progresses, so does the play of many of the young members on the roster. Freshman Dustin Pewarchuk, coming off his first top-20 placing of his career at last week’s PING-Arizona Intercollegiate, will join fellow freshman and Hawaiian native Matt Ma. Sophomores Kyle Johnson, Gregg LaVoie and Justin St.Clair round out the Oregon contingent. Devoid of any seniors, the tournament will provide an excellent opportunity to gain valuable experience.
Included in the 21-team field are nine of the top-50 ranked teams according to Golfweek. Fifth-ranked Georgia Tech and No. 6 TCU will join the likes of No. 9 Arizona State, No. 18 Arkansas and Washington. The rest of the field includes UC Davis, Hawaii, host school Hawaii-Hilo, Houston, Nagoya (Japan) Commerce, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Rhode Island, Stanford, Texas Tech, Tulsa and USC.
Leading the field will be No. 4 UCLA. Since February, the Bruins have won 10 out of 14 events and have produced six individual champions. During the 2003 fall season, the Bruins won three out of the five tournaments they played, and dating back to fall of 2002, UCLA has placed in the top 10 in 18 straight events. Another team to watch is Georgia Tech, which has won the Waikoloa event three times in six previous trips and never finished lower than eighth place.
Individually, the player to watch is Washington’s Brock MacKenzie, currently ranked 13th in the nation and looking to better last year’s tie for third at the Waikoloa. MacKenzie has a current stroke average of 69.92 in the four fall events.
Traditionally, the winds in Hawaii have wreaked havoc on the participants.
“The wind can really take the fun out of Hawaii, believe it or not,” Georgia Tech’s coach Bruce Heppler said. “If you get trapped on one course one day and the wind was bad, it could be 10 or 15 shots worse than teams on the other course. Now, all the teams are on the same golf course each day under the same conditions. It’s a good golf course and a little more forgiving if the wind blows.”
The Ducks will play 18 holes Wednesday, 18 holes Thursday and conclude the 54-hole tournament Friday.