Oregon men’s golf posted the best tournament score with a team 2-under, 287, putting the Ducks atop the team leaderboard following play on day one of the tournament Monday. 

The Ducks are five strokes ahead of the second-place Colorado State Rams, who posted a round one score of 3-over, 289, at the 2023 Oregon Duck Invitational at the Eugene Country Club.

Behind the Ducks’ successful first day is senior Nate Stember, who sits in second place with a score of 2-under, 71. Teammates Greyson Leach, Owen Avrit and Greg Solhaug are nipping at Stember’s heels as they lie within the top 15 of the player leaderboard.

Leach is tied for sixth place after he shot 1-over, 71. Avrit and Solhaug are tied for 11th – after round one – as they shot 1-under, 74, and 2-over, 71, respectively. The final member of the starting lineup, Aiden Krafft, struggled Monday as he is 4-over par and is tied for 20th in Eugene.

Individually, Oregon has eight athletes competing at the Duck Invitational. Daniel Bullen, Eric Doyle, Jay Gould-Healy, Gabriel Hari, Thomas Jenkins Jr., Gian Luca Martinez, Will Stribling and Zikang Zhan make up the Ducks’ individuals.

Redshirt freshman Hari leads the Ducks’ individual players with his round one score of even, 75, which tied him and Krafft on the leaderboard.

The weather and darkness on the course made play difficult on day one. Only six players in the tournament were below par after round one. As the climate issues persisted during round two, the Ducks still maintained a nine-stroke lead.

The Ducks will be back in action on March 28 when round two resumes Tuesday at 8:15 a.m.