No. 24 Oregon men’s golf began the final round of The Goodwin at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, CA, tied in 12th place with San Diego, but the Ducks improved mightily throughout the weekend.
The Ducks were 15th after Thursday, 12th after Friday and 10th out of 31 schools after Saturday’s final round. Tenth place was 15 strokes behind winners No. 23 Georgia.
Oregon was able to push clear of San Diego and Clemson during the final outing – showing tremendous resilience over the course of the tournament.
Oregon shot its best round as a team by ten strokes, a three-under (277), which tied for the second-best team score on Saturday.
The team was led by Gregroy Solhaug, who had been the team’s top performer in San Francisco going into the final round.
Solhaug shot his third straight one-over (71), which was looking far more promising going into the last hole. He shot three birdies and two bogeys during the first 17 holes, but a double-bogey on his 18th of the day shot his score up to one-over.
Solhaug played his best golf of the spring season this weekend in San Francisco, which was good enough to place him tied for 33rd out of 168 golfers in the tournament. He was unfortunate to miss out on a top-25 finish by one stroke, but his contribution to the team was incredibly valuable this weekend.
Oregon’s best score in the final round came from an unlikely source – Greyson Leach with a two-under (68).
Leach started his final round firing and shot four birdies on his first five holes. After finishing out his front nine with pars, he was four-under going into his back nine.
Leach made two straight mistakes on his 15th and 16th holes to bring his score back up to two-under. After a 75 on Thursday, Leach improved his scores during the last two rounds and capped the weekend off with a four birdie, two bogey and tied for 46th in the competition.
Owen Avrit continued shooting his fair share of birdies, but also making enough mistakes to water down his overall score. He started the day going two-under on the front nine.
Avrit added two more birdies in the first three holes of his back nine, but then he shot a bogey and a triple-bogey over the next three holes to bring his score all the way back up to even.
A birdie and a bogey over the last three holes kept his score where it was – an even (70), which tied him with Leach in 46th.
This was Avrit’s best score of the tournament, which is surprising considering he tied for third-most birdies on the weekend with 12. Those birdies made much less of an impact due to the amount of times Avrit went over-par at points that defined his rounds.
Being top-5 in birdies for the competition does not usually characterize a golfer who didn’t have a below-par score all week. Avrit will need to cut out costly mistakes if he is to make a splash at the Pac-12 championship.
Nate Stember came into the final round not playing his best golf, which was demonstrated in his seven-over first two rounds. However, the fifth-year found a way to turn his weekend around in a major way.
Stember stayed par-or-better for the entire round, which included two birdies for a two-under (68) finish. He finished the tournament tied in 46th with Avrit and Leach.
Stember led the entire field in pars with 44, which is a testament to the consistency that he displayed this weekend. Even though he underperformed in the opening rounds, he didn’t make too many mistakes that would have put him much farther back in the standings.
Stember simply failed to get birdies in the first two rounds, and by staying patient and sticking to his game, he found much-needed consistency.
Aiden Krafft had the worst score in the lineup on Saturday, but it was not a bad score by any means.
Krafft shot a two-over (72), which was the same score that he shot on Friday. He shot two birdies and four bogeys in the final round, which ended his underwhelming three rounds in San Francisco.
Krafft finished tied for 60th place.
Oregon’s individual Hugh Adams floundered towards the bottom of the leaderboard all weekend. Adams’ final round was his best of the tournament, and it was a total rollercoaster with four birdies and six bogeys – a two-over (72).
Adams finished the competition tied in 92nd, which was where he stayed all tournament. Seeking a return to the lineup late in the season, this performance is not what Adams needed to gain back the trust of the team.
Final Scorecard: Final Round (Par), Total (Par), Place in standings
Solhaug: 71 (+1), 213 (+3), T-33rd
Leach: 68 (-2), 215 (+5), T-46th
Stember: 68 (-2), 215 (+5), T-46th
Avrit: 70 (E), 215 (+5), T-46th
Krafft: 72 (+2), 217 (+7), T-60th
Adams (i): 72 (+2), 220 (+10), T-92nd
Oregon: 277 (-3), 854 (+14), 10th
The Ducks showed notable resiliency over the course of the competition, improving each day. While no individual entered the top-25, the team effort shined through.
Each of the Ducks contributed to the improvement during the weekend, which is a major positive to take away from the tournament. At the same time, both Stember and Leach saw the largest improvements, which was demonstrated in the final round with each of their 68’s.
At the same time, Solhaug improved from his standard this season and took the reins of the team when it needed it most.
Oregon now carries a lot of momentum going into the Western Intercollegiate on April 15-17 at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, CA.
