It’s all said and done now — just a little earlier than they anticipated. The greens are a little quieter and the fairways a little smoother.
The season has come to a close for the Oregon men’s golf team, with the Ducks finishing 12th on a three-round total 885 at the NCAA West Regional in Albuquerque, N.M.
The Ducks fell just three strokes shy of 10th place, which would have given them a bid to the NCAA Championships.
“With the talent that we had, we should still be getting ready for nationals,” senior Aaron Byers said after finishing his last collegiate tournament. “There is no reason why we’re not.”
The most upsetting part is that Oregon did not get the job done at regionals, mainly because of the first round of 300, head coach Steve Nosler said. But that does not matter anymore, because the Ducks said they had a great season.
“We’ve showed that we can play with anybody,” Nosler said. “Our scores were as low as anybody in the nation.”
The Ducks proved that they could compete with the best and beat the best. After the TaylorMade Waikoloa tournament in Hawaii from Feb. 13 to 15, the Oregon men began pulling it together.
In their next tournament, two weeks later, the Ducks finished second, and then at the end of March they went on to win their own tournament, the Duck Invitational. And through their next three tournaments, Oregon finished in the top six every time.
Despite not making their first NCAA Tournament since 1999, the Ducks said the most important thing is the relationships they built with one another.
“We grew stronger as individuals and as a team,” Byers said. “The friendships and bonds will last a lot longer than just one tournament.”
Those bonds and friendships were made between the five consistent tournament competitors — Byers, senior Brandon Harnden, juniors John Ellis and Chris Carnahan and sophomore Mike Sica.
As individuals, Byers played first for Oregon with a season stroke average of 72.3, followed by Ellis at 72.7. Carnahan’s stroke average was 73.4, with Harnden at 74.0 and Sica anchoring with a 75.4 average.
Oregon will lose Byers and Harnden next year. Both of the graduating Ducks plan to turn professional in the fall.
The Ducks expect strong younger players to step up next season. And the returnees know that they will have to play their part as well.
“It’s our responsibility to play the better golf,” Ellis said, speaking of himself and Carnahan as next year’s captains. “And we’ve got some good young guys.”
“Ability-wise, we are going to have at least the talent we had this year,” Nosler said.
And in preparation for the next year, the Oregon men are planning to play in regional and national tournaments over the summer but individually on their own time. Now with the 2001-02 season at an end, the Ducks know they can walk away happy.
“I had a season that I can look back at and be proud of,” Byers said.
“We had a pretty damn good year,” Ellis said.