Late Surge Powers Ducks

Tuesday, April 23

Eugene, OR

9:00 AM

University of Oregon

Pac-12 Championships

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

04/23/19 | Men's Golf

Team Leaderboard Individual Leaderboard Round 4 Pairings

The UO men started slow Tuesday but finished with a flurry in the third round of the Pac-12 Conference tournament at Eugene Country Club.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — The host Oregon men's golf team was a little late to the Pac-12 Championship party Tuesday. But when the Ducks showed up, things started rocking.

The UO men overcame a rocky opening nine at Eugene Country Club by scorching the final few holes in the third round of the tournament, and will enter Wednesday's final round in fifth place. Oregon's five scoring players Tuesday were a collective 10 over at the turn, but they went 8 under on the back nine, with seven birdies and no bogeys over the final three holes.

Freshman Craig Ronne enters the final round in a tie for eighth individually at 2 under (71-69-71—211), after shooting even par Tuesday. Ronne was one of three Ducks with back-to-back birdies at No. 16 and No. 17, along with fellow freshman Yin Ho Yue and sophomore Donald Kay.

"I was getting very unfortunate breaks, starting on nine through about 14 or 15," said Ronne, who recorded bogey at No. 9, No. 11 and No. 15. "I was just really getting hit with some misfortune I had to deal with. The coaches just told me to be patient, that there were a couple birdie opportunities late in the round, and I just had to wait for that and take advantage if possible."

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How It Happened: Senior Ryan Gronlund was the only Duck to shoot under par on the opening nine Tuesday, recording birdies at No. 7 and No. 9. He drained a 35-foot putt from the fringe to get to 3 under at No. 10, and made another long birdie putt of about 25 feet at No. 18 to close out a bogey-free round of 4-under 67.

Gronlund opened with matching rounds of 73 on Monday's 36-hole opening day of the tournament. His typically strong iron play gave him birdie chances at No. 16 and No. 17 upon which he didn't capitalize Tuesday, but making the long putts at No. 10 and No. 18 evened things out.

"Yesterday I didn't think I hit it very poorly," said Gronlund, who is tied for 16th individually at even-par 213. "I just didn't make anything. Today I just thought, keep giving yourself a lot of looks. You've been out there enough — obviously the greens are a little quicker than what we're used to — but just keeping doing the same things, just better."

Kay and freshman Tom Gueant had days more in line with Oregon's collective afternoon Tuesday. Through nine holes, Gueant was 5 over and Kay was 6 over in the third round. But Gueant shot even par on the back side, and Kay went 5 under, with an eagle at No. 13. Kay's round of 1-over 72 put him at 1-over 214 for the tournament, tied for 20th.

The 39th-ranked Ducks entered Tuesday's round tied for fifth, and came out of the day alone in fifth place, one shot behind No. 6 Southern California. Entering the final round, No. 12 California is in first at a collective 15-under 1,050, three shots ahead of No. 32 UCLA and four shots better than No. 17 Stanford.

Up Next: Senior Edwin Yi will look to get his week on track when he goes off first for the Ducks in the final round Wednesday, off the No. 1 tee at 8 a.m. He'll be followed at 11-minute increments by Gueant, Yue, Kay, Gronlund and Ronne.