Ducks Claim Second Place at The Prestige

LA QUINTA, Calif. – The Oregon men's golf team overcame top-level competition and challenging weather to finish as the runners-up Wednesday at The Prestige.
 
The Ducks finished second in a strong 24-team field by shooting a 1-over 285 in Wednesday's final round. Oregon was 26-over for the tournament, finishing behind only No. 18 Vanderbilt at plus-16.
 
In challenging conditions, the Ducks outplayed five of the six top-25 teams in the field, including No. 14 Kansas (29-over), No. 7 Texas Tech (33-over), No. 9 Stanford (39-over), No. 25 LSU (45-over) and No. 5 Pepperdine (47-over).
 
How it Happened: Oregon began the round tied for the lead with Texas Tech and the Ducks held their position against a strong field, with the exception of Vanderbilt which not only was the lone team under par on Wednesday, but ran away from the competition by shooting the best round of the tournament, a 14-under 270.
 
Freshman Eric Doyle matched his career low as a Duck round with a 3-under 68 on Wednesday. Doyle had three birdies and no bogeys in his final round. The Ducks also counted a 70 from Owen Avrit, who reeled off five birdies on the back nine.
 
For the tournament, Doyle tied for seventh at 5-over 218. It was his best finish as a Duck and his first career top-10 finish. Avrit was tied for ninth at 6-over 219. It was his second top 10 finish of the 2021-22 season and the fifth of his career.
 
The Ducks also had Greg Solhaug tied for 16th at 221 and Nate Stember tied for 28th at 223.
 
Quotable
Head coach Casey Martin
"The guys played great and showed a lot of grit. Those were some of the toughest conditions for competitive golf I have ever seen. Such intense winds. We handled it beautifully."

Notable: The second-place finish was Oregon's best showing at The Prestige since winning the tournament in the fall of 2011. Wednesday's round was the 11th under par out of 18 played this season for Avrit.
 
Ducks On The Leaderboard
Greg Norman Course at PGA West (Par 71, 7,100 Yards)
2. Oregon – 287-306-285-878 (+26)
T7. Eric Doyle – 75-75-68-218 (+5)
T9. Owen Avrit – 70-79-70-219 (+6)
T16. Greg Solhaug – 70-77-74-221 (+8)
T28. Nate Stember – 72-77-74-223 (+10)
NS. Jose Islas – DQ-77-73-NS
 
Up Next: The Ducks return to the state of Oregon for their next two tournaments. The team will head to the coast for the Bandon Dunes Championship March 6-8. Then Oregon will host its own tournament, the Duck Invitational, March 21-22 at Eugene Country Club.
 
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