The Oregon men’s golf team carried out a four-spot turnaround Wednesday in Walla Walla, Wash., at the final round of the Pacific-10 Conference Championships as the Ducks leap-frogged No. 14 Southern California and others to take fifth place. Tremendous play down the stretch from Justin St. Clair and Jay Snyder proved vital
in pulling Oregon out of its ninth-place position after the first round.
“I’m really proud of the boys and how they played today,” Oregon head coach Steve Nosler said. “With how we finished today, I like our chances of making it to the NCAA Regional.”
The NCAA West Regional is in reach now for Oregon, a team that was in dire need of a strong finish at the championships.
St. Clair spearheaded the late rally for the Ducks by carding a 2-under par 69 Tuesday and an even par 71 Wednesday. St. Clair’s performance garnered him a tie for fifth place with California’s Brandon Beck, which is the highest individual finish for
a Duck at the Pac-10
Championship in 13 years.
The biggest surprise of the tournament came with the superb play of Snyder. The sophomore from Vancouver, B.C., closed the third round of the sixth tournament he has played in as a Duck by shaving five strokes off his first round score. It was the second straight day that Snyder, a walk-on, recorded a career-low round, a pleasant surprise for both him and Nosler.
“Jay gave us more than we needed at the end,” Nosler said. “His third round really made a difference for us.”
Like Snyder and St. Clair, sophomore Matt Ma also delivered a sub-70 score for Oregon on Tuesday and added a 1-under 70 on Wednesday. He finished the tournament tied for 14th.
Washington’s Erik Olson shot a 2-under par 69 to claim the Pac-10 crown. He shot 8-under for the tournament and beat out Arizona’s Nathan Lashley by a shot and Arizona State’s Pat Moore by two. Moore was the leader after the third round Tuesday but struggled in the final round, shooting a 5-over par 76.
In the team competition, Washington came back from a 17-shot deficit to defeat No. 17 Arizona State in a tie-breaker. Washington shot a 5-under
250 on Wednesday, while the Sun Devils limped to the finish with a 12-over 267. The only other team to break par in the final round was No. 24 Arizona, who finished third. No. 16 UCLA finished fourth.
The fifth-place finish for Oregon capped off a rejuvenating prelude to the NCAA Regional, which the Ducks are poised to attend. Combined team efforts in each week of play have helped the Ducks record top-10 finishes in the past five tournaments.
Nosler credits the success to his team’s competitive nature, maintaining that Oregon intends to extend its season past the NCAA Regional, scheduled to start May 19. Bids to the Regional will be announced Monday.
“We have had a terrific spring,” Nosler said. “We don’t want to go to regionals just to say we went to regionals, though. We want to make the most of it.”