The Oregon men’s golf team continued its strong start to the spring as two of its members tied for the individual title, and the Ducks picked up the team win Sunday in the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, California.
Norman Xiong and Wyndham Clark.Courtesy Oregon
Oregon senior Wyndham Clark eagled the final hole to tie freshman Norman Xiong for first place. The team title was Oregon’s second in three tournaments.
The win was Clark’s second since arriving at Oregon in the fall as a transfer from Oklahoma State and came less than a month after he won the Arizona Intercollegiate to help the Ducks win that team title.
Clark’s eagle, on the 564-yard par-5 18th, capped a bogey-free 4-under-par 68 that moved him to 11 under, tied with Xiong and three shots ahead of the next nearest golfers.
Xiong, playing near his hometown of Canyon Lake, got his first college first-place finish after joining the Ducks last month. The 17-year-old graduated early from Temescal Canyon High School and enrolled at Oregon last month, making him eligible to play for the Ducks. He made an immediate impact, finishing fourth in the Arizona Intercollegiate and tying for seventh in the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii.
He put himself in position for his first college win by making 17 birdies in shooting 67-65 in the first two rounds. He parred his first nine holes Sunday, then bogeyed the 10th and 15th. He made his lone birdie Sunday on the par-3 17th, which allowed him to finish tied with Clark.
Sophomore Edwin Yi, who grew up in nearby Beaumont, tied for fifth for Oregon, the defending NCAA champion which finished at 26 under, nine shots ahead of runner-up Colorado. In addition to their win at Arizona, the Ducks also tied for third in their other spring event, the Amer Ari.
Kevin Geniza, a freshman from Crescent Valley High School, got his first team start and tied for 31st. Senior Sulman Raza tied for 84th to round out Oregon’s scoring.
Oregon sophomore Ryan Gronlund played as an individual and tied for 27th.
Riley Elmes, a Lake Oswego High School graduate who is a sophomore at Loyola Marymount, tied for 11th after he shot a 70 Sunday. David Ganz, a Jesuit graduate who is a junior at Gonzaga, tied for 84th.
— Mike Tokito
mtokito@oregonian.com
@mtokito
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