Ducks Lead by Seven at ECC

Monday, March 27

Eugene, OR

All Day

University of Oregon

Duck Invitational

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

03/27/23 | Men's Golf

Duck Invitational R1

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon navigated challenges presented by both Mother Nature and the 6,995-yard, par-71 Eugene Club Monday to build a seven-shot lead after the first day of the Duck Invitational.

After a weather delay of 45 minutes to start the first of two scheduled rounds on Monday, the second round was halted at 7 p.m. due to weather and darkness. Teams will complete their remaining holes in round two Tuesday beginning at 8:15 a.m. before moving on to the final round.

At the time the horn sounded Monday, the Ducks led the field at 1-over. No. 23 Colorado State was at 8-over with Oregon State third at plus-12, Colorado at plus-14 and Kansas at 16-over.

On a day where par was an exceptional score, Nate Stember opened with an even-par 71 and was 2-under through 14 holes on his second round. Stember was second at minus-2, two shots off the pace set by UTEP's Max Schliesing at 4-under.

Three other Ducks were within six strokes of the lead. Greyson Leach was tied for sixth at 1-over while Owen Avrit and Greg Solhaug were tied for 11^th at plus-2.

How It Happened: Three Ducks – Stember, Solhaug and Leach – all had even-par 71s in the first round, while Avrit turned in a 3-over 74. As a team, Oregon was at 3-over 287 after the opening round.

Stember had two birdies and two bogeys in the first round and two birdies and no bogeys through 15 holes in the second round. He birdied the par-5 sixth hole in both rounds.

Leach had three birdies on the back nine of round one – No. 10, No. 13 and No. 17 – to offset three bogeys. He was at 1-over through 15 holes in round two.

Avrit's 3-over in the first round was just his fifth round above par this season. He was at minus-1 through 14 holes in round two.

Avrit Solhaug

Solhaug fought his way back from a double bogey on No. 6 and was at 3-over at one point in the first round, but played his last 10 holes in three under – four birdies and one bogey – to get back to even par for the round.

Freshman Aiden Krafft was rallying on the back nine when the horn sounded. He birded the 10^th and 13^th to get back to level par for round two. Overall Krafft was tied for 20^th at plus-4.

Oregon entered a large number of individuals in the Duck Invitational. Gabriel Hari led that group at 4-over (tied for 20^th), while Daniel Bullen and Eric Doyle were tied for 29^th at plus-5.

Quotable
Head Coach Casey Martin
"Eugene Country Club was a challenge today; the conditions were very challenging. For the most part, I thought we handled it well. We're in contention; we're right where we wanted to be."

Notable: Oregon is looking to win its own tournament for the first time since sharing the 2018 title with Liberty. The Ducks' last outright title came the year before in 2017 … The Ducks have counted all 18 of Avrit's rounds this season … Doyle's eagle on No. 16 in the first round was the fifth of his career.

Hari Jenkins

Ducks On The Leaderboard
First & Second (partial) Rounds
Eugene Country Club (Par 71, 6,995 Yards)
1. Oregon – 287/(-2) +1
2. Nate Stember – 71/(-2) -2
T3 Greyson Leach – 71/(+1) +1
T6. Owen Avrit – 74/(-1) +2
T6. Greg Solhaug – 71/(+2) +2
T20. Aiden Krafft – 75/(E) +4

Oregon Individuals
T20. Gabriel Hari – 75/(E) +4
T29. Daniel Bullen – 75/(+1) +5
T29. Eric Doyle – 72/(+4) +5
T60. Thomas Jenkins Jr. – 75/(+7) +11
T66. Will Stribling – 75/(+9) +13
T68. Jay Gould-Healy – 80/(+5) +14
T81. Gian Luca Martinez – 83/(+10) +22
T83. Zikahn Zhan – 81/(+13) +23

Up Next: The second day of the Duck Invitational is scheduled to get underway at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Owen Avrit