Senior Chris Carnahan and redshirt freshman Kyle Johnson led the Ducks to fifth place after 36 holes of the Windon Memorial Classic Monday at Glen View Club in Glenview, Ill.
Carnahan, a co-captain and three-time All-Pacific-10 Conference selection, fired a 2-under-par 142 and was tied for third with two other golfers, two strokes behind Northwestern’s Tom Johnson. Carnahan finished with a 2-over 74 in his first round, but bounced back with the lowest round of the day, a 4-under 68 over the second 18 holes.
Johnson, who made his collegiate debut Monday, shot a pair of even-par 72s to end the day in a seven-way tie for ninth place.
“Chris (Carnahan) had a great afternoon,” Oregon head coach Steve Nosler said. “Typical of what you would expect out of a fifth-year senior. And I’m absolutely ecstatic about how Kyle Johnson is playing in his first college tournament.”
Host Northwestern took a first-day lead at 3-under 573. The Ducks trail by 11 strokes after carding a 584. Duke is in second and five strokes back at 578, followed by Stanford at 582 and North Florida at 583.
“We’re not in bad shape,” Nosler said. “We had a little trouble getting a fourth score in the afternoon, but I think we can make it up tomorrow.”
Senior co-captain and two-time All-Pac-10 selection John Ellis was tied for 17th with a 2-over 146. True freshman Gregg LaVoie, who Nosler expects to be an “impact player right off the bat,” was tied for 42nd after an 8-over 152. LaVoie was even-par after his first round, but struggled with a second round 80. Redshirt freshman Chris Dukeminier, a Sheldon High School graduate, was tied for 59th with a 13-over 157.
Oklahoma State, ranked 5th in the nation by the Precept Golf Coaches Association of America Poll, was in 7th.
Kent State, the only team among the field of 13 to win a Windon Memorial Classic tournament, doing so in 1993 and 1999, finished 12th.
The Glen View course measures 6,750 yards and is a par-72 with a course rating of 71.9 and a slope of 135. It was host to the first Western Open in 1899, the 1902 U.S. Amateur and the 1904 U.S. Open.
The tournament will conclude today with 18 holes.