Moriyama’s Stellar Week Leads Top-5 Finish
SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Yuki Moriyama capped off a career week with another solid round, finishing 15 under overall and just one shot out of a playoff in third place at the Pac-12 Championships at Mayacama Golf Club. Oregon closed the week in fifth place following a 1 under final round to place in the top five at the conference championships for the third time in the last four seasons.
The Ducks will now wait to learn their postseason fate, finding out next Wednesday at 11 a.m. during the NCAA Selection Show on Golf Channel.
"We had a good week," said head coach Casey Martin. We needed a good event to help our postseason chances and I believe we did that. My guys battled and gave it everything they had. Today was just a tough day for a couple of us."
How It Happened: Moriyama headed into the final round tied for the lead and showed no signs of backing down from the moment early on, opening with a birdie at the first before adding another at the fourth to get to 2 under for the day and remain tied at the top. He made a bogey at seven but bounced right back with a birdie at the par-4 eighth, making the turn at 2 under.
The freshman bogeyed 10 and 13 to drop back to even par and a couple shots off the lead, but got back in the mix with birdies at 14 and 15. He went into the par-5 18th two shots off the clubhouse lead, needing an eagle to get into a playoff, but came up just short after making a birdie to finish with a 3-under 69.
Tom Gueant began his day with a bogey but came back with an eagle at the par-5 fourth, followed by birdies at five and six to get to 3 under. He went bogey, birdies at eight and nine to shoot a 3-under 34 going out. Gueant started his back nine by going birdie, bogey before turning in a clean card the rest of the way with just back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 to go along with five pars to shoot a 5-under 67.
Owen Avrit also made an eagle at the par-5 fourth to highlight a 1-under 36 on the front nine. He birdied the 10th hole to get to 2 under but bogeyed holes 12 and 13 to drop back to even. Avrit closed strong with back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 to get back to finish with a 2-under 70.
Nate Stember shot a 2-over 74 to finish the tournament tied for 44th at 4 over. Greg Solhaug and Craig Ronne each turned in a 7-over 79, with Solhaug coming in tied for 63rd and Ronne finishing tied for 56th.
Ducks On The Leaderboard:
5. Oregon – 355-350-358-359 – 1,422 (-18)
3. Yuki Moriyama – 65-69-70-69 – 273 (-15)
T13. Owen Avrit – 68-76-68-70 – 282 (-6)
T17. Tom Gueant – 73-71-72-67 – 283 (-5)
T44. Nate Stember – 74-70-74-74 – 292 (+4)
T56. Craig Ronne – 75-71-74-79 – 299 (+11)
T63. Greg Solhaug – 76-69-78-79 – 302 (+14)
Notable: Moriyama turned in the first top-5 finish by a Duck at the conference tournament since Wyndham Clark won the individual title in 2017 … It's also the best career finish for the freshman and the second top 5 for an Oregon player this year … Gueant's 67 was his team-best fifth round in the 60s this season … Avrit turned in his best finish since the opening tournament of the season and his second top-15 of the year … The Ducks led the field in par-3 scoring average for the week at 3.02.
Up Next: The Ducks will learn their NCAA postseason fate next Wednesday, May 5 when the NCAA Regional selections are announced at 11 a.m. on Golf Channel.