Going into the final round of the Amer Ari Invitational, No. 18 Oregon found itself in 14th place. The Ducks finished the final round in 14th out of 20, five strokes off both Pacific University and San Jose State University, who were tied for 12th.
Oregon’s top golfer on the weekend, fifth year Nate Stember, shot a 67 in the final round. Stember shot eight birdies in the final round, but his four bogeys held him back from a really positive end to the weekend.
Through 15 holes today, Stember was tied for 11th place, but a bogey on his 17th hole of the round killed his momentum and he finished the weekend tied for 19th place individually.
Gregory Solhaug had his best round of the weekend, shooting a 66 and staying par-or-better in every hole. He shot six birdies and finished six-under on the day.
Solhaug was the best Duck in the final round, but his lackluster first two rounds made it difficult for him to crack the top-50. The senior finished his first competition of the spring tied for 55th place.
Greyson Leach was a mixed bag all tournament, and he shot four birdies and three bogeys in the final round for a 71 on the day. Leach tied for 71st with teammate Eric Doyle — and others — for the weekend.
Doyle also shot a 71 in the final round, but only shot three birdies and two bogeys. After shooting a 68 the first day, Doyle was set up to have an excellent weekend. However, a 73 in round two killed his momentum, but finishing under par in the final round is definitely something to build off.
Owen Avrit shot a 73 in the final round, which was the worst of his weekend. He shot three birdies on Saturday, but two double-bogeys marred what could have been a much more positive day for the fifth-year.
Avrit finished the weekend with the lowest score of the team and ended up placing tied for 84th on the weekend out of 124 golfers.
Oregon’s individual golfer, Aiden Krafft, shot a 72 in the final round, his worst score of the weekend. He shot four birdies, three bogeys and one double-bogey in the final round, which hurt his chances at a much better finish at the weekend.
Krafft shot two excellent rounds, 69 and 68, before an even performance brought him to seven-under for the weekend. Krafft finished tied for 55th, but placed tied for fourth amongst the 24 individual golfers.
Final Scorecard: Weekend total score (Weekend Par), place in rankings
Aiden Krafft (i): 209 (-7), T-55th
Stember: 203 (-13), T-19th
Solhaug: 209 (-7), T-55th
Leach: 212 (-4), T-71st
Doyle: 212 (-4), T-71st
Avrit: 214 (-2), T-84th
Oregon: 831 (-33), 14th
It was a lackluster weekend, as Oregon finished eighth among the nine top-25 ranked teams in the invitational. The Ducks only edged the No. 15 University of Texas by four strokes.
Oregon was the fifth best Pac-12 team out of the six that were invited to the invitational this weekend. The Ducks finished behind Arizona State, Washington, UCLA, and Stanford but finished above Oregon State.
The Ducks were second in the invitational with 173 pars and they were also tied for seventh in average score on Par 4s with 3.89. By contrast, they finished tied for 12th in average on Par 3s with 3.10 and 16th on Par 5s with 4.67.
Oregon also ranked 16th in birdies with 65 and only had one eagle on the weekend.
The Ducks didn’t do enough on the course to finish in the top-10 in this tournament, with some clear places to shave off some strokes in everyone’s game.
While it is the first competition of the spring season, Oregon’s lackluster performance on the weekend cannot just be chalked up to brushing off some rust.
The only Ducks that showed real glimpses of being one of the top golfers in the country were Stember and Krafft, as each of the other Ducks showed a lot of inconsistency.
Oregon did what was expected, doing well on Par 4s and, for the most part, they got pars.
What the Ducks need to focus on going forward is finding ways to continue to build momentum after big holes. While Stember had that consistency most of this weekend, he still bogeyed his last hole in his last two rounds.
Krafft also was able to string together some birdies, his bogeys and doubles often came shortly after some of his best golf. Solhaug went par-or-better on every hole in the final round, but he was the only one to manage that this weekend.
The Ducks will be looking to stay in the top-25, even after a subpar showing at the Amer Ari Invitational this weekend. It is important to stack up against the other Pac-12 teams, as they will see those teams for most of the season. Proving they can stack up against their conference will be crucial to the Ducks’ national success.
Oregon will be hoping to come back in a big way next week in The Prestige in La Quinta, California, which again features six Pac-12 teams.
