On the first tee of his final practice round before the NCAA West Regionals Monday, Ryan Lavoie stepped up to his ball and surveyed the scene.
With little hesitation, the Oregon co-captain slapped it 250 yards straight down the first fairway at the Eugene Country Club. As his teammates sarcastically applauded what must have been a routine shot for Lavoie, he turned to them with a sheepish grin. No comment, no arrogant walk, just a simple, heart-felt smile.
This is how Ryan Lavoie has come to lead the Oregon men’s golf team.
The Pasco, Wash., native shoots low scores but tries, in his words, to “be a gentleman” off the course. This year, he became just the third Oregon player in 21 years to earn all Pacific-10 Conference first team honors, but, as co-captain Andrew Tredway says, he is “a quiet guy.”
Ryan Lavoie is not an ordinary athlete. On the brink of ending his Oregon career, the soft-spoken senior is still as humble as he was as a freshman.
“I’m trying to lead by example,” he said.
“I was always the rookie. I know how I looked up to the other guys, so I know what they’re looking for. Your scores, I think, are the last thing the younger players look at.”
Lavoie has certainly provided the scores to complement his off-course attitude. He won the Peter Jacobsen Award as Duck newcomer of the year in 1997, and this year has the team’s lowest stroke average. As if those honors weren’t enough, he has a No. 41 national ranking to go along with his first team all Pac-10 honors.
Last summer, Lavoie played in six tournaments as an individual, won four of them, and qualified for the U.S. Amateur. All that, combined with a 23rd-place finish at the NCAA Championships last year and two top-five finishes in the fall, made him Pacific Northwest Golf Association golfer of the year in 1999.
But ask him if any of those individual accomplishments mean anything to him, and he politely changes the subject.
“The team is more important than you as an individual,” he said. “Our main goal is to go out as a team and play well. Anything individual is a bonus.”
Lavoie has led the Ducks in seven of 12 tournaments this year, and at five of those tournaments the team finished fourth or better. There is no doubt that his scores boost his team.
Oregon head coach Steve Nosler agrees.
“I think any time somebody’s playing well on the course, it has a positive effect,” he said. “Probably there’s more pressure on Ryan than the other boys because I think his teammates expect him to play well.”
Those “other boys” that Nosler speaks of are close to Lavoie. Ask about his teammates, and the senior lights up like a firecracker.
“[Chris] Carnahan is one of the best smart golfers I’ve ever seen. He never gets away from his game plan,” Lavoie says. “TJ [Duncan]’s been in the trenches, he knows every situation there is to play in. [Aaron] Byers is one of the best talents I’ve seen.”
But perhaps the most praise is reserved for Lavoie’s co-captain, senior Andrew Tredway.
“We feed off each other,” Lavoie said of Tredway. “He’s a great player. I think we work well together.”
Both captains realize that the season only has two tournaments left, and only one if the Ducks don’t finish ninth or better at the NCAA West Regionals in Fresno, Calif., which start today. Both want desperately to extend their last season as Ducks to Auburn, Ala., site of the NCAA Championships May 31- June 3.
“I definitely want to get back to the NCAAs,” Tredway said. “We just have to go take care of business this week.”
Taking care of business in Fresno may be easier than it sounds.
The No.19 Ducks will face top competition at the regionals. Eight top-25 teams, including No. 5 Arizona State with freshman sensation Paul Casey, will play in the tournament. The top nine finishers advance to the NCAAs.
But if you talk to the Ducks, they exude confidence about the regionals.

“I don’t think we’ve nearly reached our potential as far as where we are,” Nosler said.
“We’ve got our best golf ahead of us,” Lavoie said. “I think we can raise some eyebrows.”
Ryan Lavoie has been raising eyebrows since he arrived on campus four years ago. Now he just needs to raise two more things — the West Regionals trophy and the NCAA Championships trophy.
But even if he did win both individual titles, he probably wouldn’t tell you about it.