After a two-week break from competition, the Oregon men’s golf team travels to Westlake Village, Calif., today to compete in the Cleveland Golf Classic. Oregon, which already has two tournament appearances under its belt in the spring season, looks to improve its play in yet another competition featuring elite teams.
The Ducks will play two rounds Monday and one Tuesday at the 6,815-yard, par-71 North Ranch Country Club. Eleven of the 17 teams in the field are ranked in the most recent Golfweek Top 25. Headlining the tournament are No. 8 UCLA, No. 16 Pepperdine, No. 20 Washington and No. 25 Tennessee. Arizona State, Brigham Young, California, California-Santa Barbara, Fresno State, Houston, Ohio State, Oklahoma. Oregon State, San Diego State, Stanford and USC round out the field.
“It seems we see a strong field everywhere we go,” head coach Steve Nosler said. “But we had some very nice competitive qualifiers and will be sending a pretty experienced group out there this week.”
Making the trip south for the Ducks will be seniors John Ellis and Chris Carnahan, juniors Jimmy White and Mike Sica, and freshman Gregg LaVoie.
Those same five members represented Oregon in its last tournament appearance Feb. 12-14 in Waikoloa, Hawaii. Oregon finished that tournament in 14th before its two-week break. UCLA, which Oregon has faced in every tournament in its young spring season and will again see today, won the Taylor Made/Waikoloa Intercollegiate after finishing second in the first tournament of the spring for the teams, the Ping Arizona Intercollegiate, Feb. 3-4.
The Ducks finished 14th in both of their first two tournaments, snapping their streak of 12 consecutive top-10 finishes, discounting last year’s NCAA regional tournament. The streak dated back to last year’s Cleveland Golf Classic March 4-5. Oregon finished tied for second. Ellis, then a junior, finished in eighth place, followed by Carnahan, who finished 20th. Sica also competed last year finishing tied for 48th overall.