The No. 25 Ducks slid two places on day two of the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California. Oregon will enter the final round tied at fifth place out of the 14 competing schools with BYU, just six strokes off the leaders Stanford. 

Oregon has a lot to play for on the final day because if it has a stellar day three, it will climb the leaderboard dramatically. 

Greyson Leach led the Ducks going into Tuesday’s golf, with a resounding two-under (68) on Monday, but his play dropped off significantly on day two. 

Leach lost his rhythm from the get go, as he started his day with two bogeys on the first three holes, which was something he never recovered from. The rest of the day, Leach shot an even four birdies and four bogeys, which carded his second round at a two-over (72).

While it was not a poor performance by any means, Leach’s day two was a major step back from his incredible opening round. After securing a place in the top five on day one, Leach holds onto a top 10 slot, as he is tied for 10th. 

He sits four strokes behind leader Filip Jakubcik from No. 9 Arizona. 

Surprisingly, he is tied with a teammate – Owen Avrit. 

Avrit played his best golf on Tuesday, which was good for a two-under (68) for the fifth-year who had been looking to distinguish himself this season. The front nine was a rollercoaster – totaling four birdies and two bogeys. 

Avrit entered the back nine two-under (33), but the back would not match the front. The latter half of his day included just one birdie and one bogey, which kept his score two-under for the day and rocketed him 22 spots up the rankings. 

On the final day, Avrit has a chance to continue his positive momentum into something spectacular and chase for the top five.

Aiden Krafft did not play up to his standard on Tuesday. By hole 13, Krafft shot four bogeys and nothing else of note.

However, the last five holes would include three birdies and two bogeys, which salvaged his round slightly. Krafft dropped 12 spots on Tuesday with his three-over (73) to a tie for 27th. 

Krafft has the tendency to shoot a lot of bogeys in a round, the question always is if he can shoot enough birdies to supplement. Today, he didn’t and will pick it back up and try to ensure a positive end to the regular season. 

Nate Stember had a typical round for him – a lot of pars. In today’s case, Stember shot just three bogeys and one birdie, which was good for his second straight two-over (72). His back nine could be characterized by his hole 18, where he was on the fringe of the green in just two shots. 

Stember went on to spoil both the long opportunity for eagle and then the short birdie putt, which gave him a par to finish the day. That was the case for many of his holes in the latter half of Tuesday, so he looks to flip his luck around going into day three – tied for 33rd.

Hugh Adams played slightly better on Tuesday, but only by one stroke. His lackluster, five birdie one bogey outing was good for a four-over (74) and a slight climb to a tie for 62nd. 

Adams is tied with teammate Gregory Solhaug towards the bottom half of the 96 golfer leaderboard. Solhaug had another subpar day at the course, as he failed to shoot a single birdie on Tuesday. 

Solhaug posted three bogeys and one double-bogey, which scored him at a five-over (75). 

Eric Doyle, the only Oregon non-lineup competitor today, continued his positive regular season finale with only a one stroke drop-off. Doyle’s day was a rollercoaster, and at times it didn’t even look like he’d get his score down to the three-over (73) he finished with. 

With two double-bogeys for the round, the score he finished with was improbable. Doyle supplemented his mistakes well with three birdies and two bogeys, so if he hadn’t had those two mistakes, his round could have been a lot better. 

Doyle tied for 40th at the end of day two. 

While it wasn’t the outing the Ducks needed, they are set up to shock the competition and make a real run for the top of the leaderboard on the final day. 

Oregon has to play its best golf of the week in order to move up on day three, so the Ducks have their work cut out for them if they want to improve. 

Scorecard: Round two score (Par), Total Score (Par), Place in Rankings 

Avrit: 68 (-2), 140 (E), T-10th

Leach: 72 (+2), 140 (E), T-10th

Krafft: 73 (+3), 143 (+3), T-27th

Stember: 72 (+2), 144 (+4), T-33rd

Doyle (i): 73 (+3), 145 (+5), T-39th

Adams: 74 (+4), 149 (+9), T-62nd

Solhaug: 75 (+5), 149 (+9), T-62nd

Oregon: 359 (+9), 715 (+15), T-5th out of 14 teams