After the sun set early at the first day of the 2003 Ping-Arizona Intercollegiate tournament, the Oregon men’s golf team found itself tied for 9th when play was suspended midway through the second round at the 6,973 yard, par-71 Arizona National Golf Course. The second round of play was suspended due to darkness.
Junior Jimmy White led the Ducks with a season-low round of 71, also the second-lowest round for his career. Also scoring an opening-round score of 71 was freshman Gregg LaVoie. Both White and LaVoie are tied for 22nd overall. Freshman Justin St. Clair set his lowest round score of his young career while tying teammate and senior John Ellis at 72. Senior Chris Carnahan finished the day with a two-over-par 73.
“Our guys played pretty well for our opening tournament, especially with two freshmen,” head coach Steve Nosler said. “We left a lot of shots out there on the course, but we’re not that far off.”
The Ducks concluded the first round with a team score of 286, 16 strokes behind current leader and Pacific-10 Conference rival, No. 17 UCLA. No. 10 Arizona was second on the day, shooting a 276, followed by No. 21 Pepperdine with a team score of 280.
Only six teams completed the second round Monday, leaving two thirds of the field with one hole left to play when the event was ended for the night. Oregon will continue with the second and final round of the tournament today with playing commencing at 7:45 a.m., followed immediately by the final round at 8:15 a.m.
Leading the field after Monday’s 18 holes were Arizona’s Reid Hatley and UCLA’s Roy Moon, who each shot a six-under-par 65. There were 14 players within four strokes of the lead after the first round.
Fresno State brings up the rear of the 16-team field, with a 22-over-par 306, while Oregon is only four strokes removed from a top-five finish. It would be an impressive feat, considering 11 of the top 50 teams are represented in the Ducks’ first tournament of the second half of the 2002-03 season.