Although first place looked out of reach after the first two rounds, the Oregon men’s golf team had a great chance of capturing second on Wednesday. That didn’t come close to happening, as Oregon finished tied for sixth place at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational in Sonoma, Calif.
The Ducks were tied with Arizona State for second behind California (35-under par through the first two rounds) going into Wednesday, firing a total score of 562 (-14). Three Ducks players shot 68s (-4) and nobody had a round worse than 74 (+2). On Wednesday, three Oregon players shot 74 or worse, and nobody broke 71.
As a team, Oregon shot 292 (+4), which left them at 10-under. Compared to their first two rounds, the final stood out like a giant bruise. They ended their first round with a 282 (-6) and improved on it in the second, firing a 280 (-8). In each of their three tournaments this fall, the Ducks have regressed from the second to third round, although they didn’t nearly have this large of a dropoff in the first two tournaments.
Oregon sophomore Sulman Raza was tied for sixth after Tuesday with a total score of 6-under. He shot a 68 and a 70 (-2) in both rounds, but was far from either score on Wednesday. Raza fired a 74, which left him tied for 12th in the 80-man field.
Zach Foushee was just two strokes behind Raza after Tuesday, but he struggled more than any other Duck in the final round. The sophomore shot a 76 (+4) to finish directly at even-par and tied for 27th.
Tied with Foushee were two Ducks, freshman Thomas Lim and sophomore Ryann Ree.
Lim started the tournament on fire, shooting a round one 68 that tied him for fourth overall. But Lim couldn’t back it up in the final two rounds, shooting a pair of 74s.
Overall, Ree was much more consistent, although he, like the team, took a step back on Wednesday. Ree shot a 72 (even) in the first round, a 71 (-1) in the second and a 73 (+1) in the third.
Rounding out the five Oregon golfers was Brandon McIver, who fired the best round of the day for the Ducks with a 71. He finished a shot behind Foushee, Lim and Ree at 1-over and was tied for 34th overall.
Cal blew away the field in Sonoma, finishing with a score of 39-under, 22 strokes better than the second-place finisher, UC Davis. Davis had the best team round of the day with an 11-under 277.
Also ahead of the Ducks were Arizona State (-13), BYU (-13) and Oregon State (-14).
Cal’s Joel Stalter narrowly beat out Oregon State’s David Fink for the top individual score. Stalter finished at 13-under, with Fink at 12-under.
Oregon’s next tournament won’t be until Nov. 4-5. They’ll play at the Gifford Collegiate in Newport Beach, Calif.