On a bright and breezy spring afternoon at Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell, Andrew Vijarro rushes off the practice putting green to lead an ecstatic bunch of the Oregon men’s golf team into a dog pile. The overjoyed golfers are celebrating a narrow victory over a group of their teammates, in a jovial yet competitive intrasquad putting contest near the end of practice. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1605903@@
Oregon junior Andrew Vijarro is admired by teammates and coaches for his relentless approach to the game. This season, Vijarro was awarded for his persistence with a selection to the All-Pac-10 second team. (Michael Ciaglo/Oregon Daily Emerald)
While Vijarro, who spent the duration of the competition chatting and joking around with his comrades, comes off as playful in practice, he still understands tournaments require a contrary attitude.
“On the course, I’m a little more serious,” Vijarro said. “But when we’re out here practicing, it’s good to have fun and keep it in perspective. Otherwise it gets too serious, and it’s no fun, and you don’t play well.”
Vijarro’s play of late has demonstrated how successful that attitude can prove to be. The junior from Bend has finished at least tied for the team lead in four of the last six tournaments and is second on the No. 20 Ducks in average strokes per round (72.39) this season. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=107801@@
That success hasn’t gone unnoticed. Pacific-10 Conference coaches last week voted Vijarro to the All-Pac-10 second team.
“The Pac-10 is perennially the toughest golf conference in the nation,” Oregon coach Casey Martin said. “To be recognized among the top … players in that conference is a huge accomplishment.”
The all-conference selection is something Vijarro points to as a form of retribution for being slighted by the rest of the conference during the recruiting process. He wasn’t highly recruited while at Bend High School, and Oregon was the only Pac-10 school that offered him a scholarship.
“When you get an honor like that, it makes you feel good, and you know you worked hard for it,” Vijarro said. “It just proves other people wrong, and it feels good to accomplish something like that.”
Vijarro described his golf game in high school as “decent,” not “great.” But Oregon still came calling because Martin was drawn to Vijarro’s ambitious demeanor and will to win.
“If he’s having a tough day, you can always count on him to fight and scrap his way back into it,” Martin said. “He loves to compete, which I think is his biggest attribute.”
It was that competitive nature of Vijarro’s that helped rally the Ducks in the final round to force a playoff with No. 15 USC at the Pac-10 Championships earlier this month at Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif. After a lackluster 3-over-par performance on the front nine, Vijarro shot four-under on the back nine, bolstered by an eagle on the par-4 15th. While the Ducks fell in the playoff, Vijarro finished the tournament tied for the team lead and 11th place overall with a 4-over 284. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4384&SPID=246&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205145737@@
“(He’s) one of the toughest kids to compete — ever,” assistant coach Steve Nosler said of Vijarro. “He doesn’t know how to say ‘die.’”
That persistence Vijarro constantly displays is something he credits his parents for instilling in him.
“If I were to come out and shoot 40 on the front nine, my mom at the turn would be like, ‘It’s OK. Just get some birdies. Just keep it going,’ ” Vijarro said. “I’ve kind of just taken that attitude on the course. There’s always birdies out there, no matter how late in the game it is.”
“He’s been a huge asset to the team for that reason,” Martin added. “He really galvanizes the guys to go compete, which is huge when you have a team.”
The Ducks hope that competitive atmosphere holds true this week, as they begin play Thursday in the Florida Regional of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships at Golden Ocala Golf Club in Ocala, Fla. @@http://www.oga.org/index.php/News/scoredetail/C67/2256@@
Oregon is the fourth-seeded team in a fierce 14-team field that includes No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Augusta State and No. 17 Arkansas. Advancing past the regional stage would give the Ducks their fourth consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships.
“I don’t think we have to do anything special or out of the ordinary to advance,” Martin said. “But we have to play well. We can’t screw around.”
Vijarro can provide a big help to his team’s chances of getting there if he can finally capture that first career individual win, something he’s had his sights set on for a while.
“It’ll come,” Vijarro said. “It’s just taking a little more time than I thought. It’s close.
“My game is pretty good right now.”