The No. 19 Oregon men’s golf team closed out its 2022-2023 season with a 27th place finish at the NCAA Championships. They shot a 19-over, 299, in round three of the national tournament to bring them to a 42-over, 882, overall score. The Ducks failed to make the top 15 cut of stroke play, which is known as medal play, for the final round on Monday.
Oregon played the third best amongst Pac-12 schools over the first three days of the event, as intraconference foes Stanford University and Arizona State University moved on with its fifth and sixth place showings, respectively.
Day one of play was highlighted by Oregon sophomore Greyson Leach, who aced No. 16, his first as a Duck. His hole-in-one led to an even-par, 70, the best of the opening round by an Oregon player as he tied for 19th. Avrit struggled on the front nine of the first round, but he rebounded for a 3-over, 73, on the back nine.
Senior Nate Stember strided the Ducks on the second day as he shot a one-under, 69. By the championship’s conclusion, Stember shot a 10-over, 220, as he tied for No. 81 and performed the best of any Oregon athlete.
To make matters worse, the Ducks faced a fluke injury as junior Gregory Soulhaug stepped on a tee in the mid rounds and was forced to withdraw from play on day two after he pierced his foot.
“I’ve been in golf nearly 50 years and have never seen anything like that,” head coach Casey Martin said.
Redshirt freshman Gabriel Hari substituted for Solhaug on the third day of the event. Hari birdied on No. 10 and 14 on Sunday, as he displayed a laudable showing en route to a 4-over, 74.
A common theme of this season, senior Owen Avrit paced his team. This time in the third round as he shot a 3-over, 73, backed by his two birdies in seven holes and a double bogey to end his day. Avrit tied for 94th at Grayhawk Golf Club as he shot a 11-over, 221, through the final three rounds of the season.
Oregon’s remaining athletes tied for No. 122 as freshman Aiden Krafft and Leach shot a 15-over, 225. Krafft’s best performance came in round two, as he shot an even-par, 70. Leach added two birdies to his first round showing, although he struggled on his final day as he shot an 8-over, 78.
While the Ducks didn’t end their promising season like they wanted to, there’s excitement going into next year.
“It’s tough cause you don’t want to finish like that, but we had a great year and have nothing to be ashamed of. We just ran out of gas,” Martin said. “We had a lot of adversity here this weekend, but that’s alright. The kids are resilient, we’ll be right back and we’ll do it again next year. I’m really proud of them.”
The Ducks return PING All-Region and Pac-12 first and second team selections in Avrit and Stember, as they have one year of eligibility remaining due to the COVID-19 pandemic scholarship exceptions.
