No. 25 Oregon men’s golf opened the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California placed tied for fourth place out of the 14 competing teams with No. 21 California.
The five Pac-12 teams competing are all the ones to beat, as they round out the top of the leaderboard. No. 9 Arizona sits in first, Stanford in second, No. 8 Washington in third and the aforementioned tie in fourth.
The Ducks showed a lot of consistency on the first day, which was highlighted by the performance of an unlikely hero, Greyson Leach, who could almost do no wrong on Monday.
Leach started his day with a complete, par-or-better front nine that included two birdies. As Leach made the turn, he was the top competitor in the competition at two-under.
His back nine would not go as smoothly, as Leach shot two quick bogeys, and he was right back to even. However, his outstanding eagle on hole 15 propelled him back into the top five, where his two-under (68) placed him tied for fifth out of the 96 golfers.
Leach surprised many today as Oregon’s best golfer, so consistency will be key going into the real meat and potatoes of the tournament.
Aiden Krafft also played some of his best golf of the season, as his three birdie, three bogey performance was enough for an even (70) and a place in the top 20 – tied for 16th.
Krafft tends to have a lot of variety in his rounds, which leads to lack of consistency throughout his game. The amount of pars in this round is a positive sign for the rest of the tournament that he will carry this play through all three days.
Both of Oregon’s fifth-years had similar days, but each played out slightly differently.
Owen Avrit started in rhythm immediately with a birdie on the first hole, but lost that rhythm just as quickly with a double-bogey on the second hole. The rest of the day cooled off for Avrit, as he shot just one more birdie and two more bogeys.
Nate Stember began his round in the complete opposite fashion. On his second hole, Stember shot a triple-bogey, but it was his performance afterward that showed his true character.
Shortly after, he would go on to birdie three out of the next four holes to completely mitigate the result of the first few holes. The rest of the day would not go Stember’s way, as he shot two birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey for the rest of the day.
Both Stember and Avrit shot two-over (72)’s, which slotted them tied for 31st.
The early mistakes were a theme of the day for the Ducks, as Gregory Solhaug also fell victim to it. On the second hole, Solhaug shot a quadruple-bogey, which was the same hole that Stember found trouble on.
Solhaug did not go back under four-over in the round, as he shot three birdies and three bogeys en route to a four-over (74) finish and a tie for 50th.
The worst score in the expanded lineup was from freshman Hugh Adams, whose disaster of a day saw him drop into the bottom half of the leaderboard – tied for 63rd. Adams shot two birdies, three bogeys and two double-bogeys, which carded him at a five-over (75).
Oregon sent out two individual golfers this tournament, and the better of the two was Eric Doyle.
Doyle cemented himself in the top half for this tournament with a solid, two-over (72) that included three bogeys and one birdie.
The other individual, Thomas Jenkins, shot a seven-over (77) where he managed three double-bogeys in the round.
Going into day two, the Ducks have a lot to play for as a team, while both Leach and Krafft will look to compete for the individual awards. The Western could be a tremendous outing for a team that is looking for a major spark going into the conference championship.
Scorecard: Score (Par), Place in leaderboard
Leach: 68 (-2), T-5th
Krafft: 70 (E), T-16th
Avrit: 72 (+2), T-31st
Stember: 72 (+2), T-31st
Doyle (i): 72 (+2), T-31st
Solhaug: 74 (+4), T-50th
Adams: 75 (+5), T-63rd
Jenkins (i): 77 (+7), T-74th
