Huskies Fall Back To Third After A Fast Start In Eugene

Monday, March 21

Eugene, Ore. -- Eugene CC

All Day

University of Washington

Oregon Duck Invitational

UW Men's Golf Seeded 8th At NCAA Championships

March 21, 2011 | Men's Golf

By: Washington Athletics

March 21, 2011

• Golfstat.com Live Scoring

EUGENE, Ore. -- The Washington Husky men's golf team got off to a hot start at the Oregon Duck Invitational during the first 18 holes, but were unable to maintain their torrid pace through 36 holes. After the dust settled on Monday, the No. 22 Huskies were third out of 15 teams and sophomore Chris Williams was second among 88 competitors.

The Huskies led the field by seven strokes after a 6-under 282 in the morning round, but fell back to the pack after a 6-over 294 in the afternoon. Overall Washington is even.

Oklahoma State, the nation's top-ranked team, shot the day's best round with a 9-under 279 in the afternoon and is -6 overall for the tournament. Oregon is second at -3.

"It was a good overall day," said Husky coach Matt Thurmond from the 7,020-yard, par 72 Eugene Country Club. "We go to the final round with a legitimate chance to win. We're playing with the No. 1 team in the country and a really good home team (Oregon) and we're right there with them. We have a chance to beat them tomorrow if we have a really great day."

Williams fired the morning's top round with a bogey-free 5-under 67 and followed up with a nice 1-under 71 to enter the clubhouse at -6. He trails Oregon State's Alex Moore, who followed up a 73 with a 9-under 63 in the afternoon to lead at -8.

"I'm really excited for the way Chris played today. I think his morning round was outstanding. Over 36 holes he only had two bogeys, so he's looking really solid," said Thurmond. "I'm excited to see the way he plays tomorrow."

Sophomore Charlie Hughes is the next highest Husky on the leaderboard in 18th place. Hughes, coming off his first career win last time out, shot a 70 and 74.

Tze Huang Choo, one of two Huskies competing as an individual at the tournament, is +3 and tied for 28th.

Kevin Spooner is +5 and is tied for 40th. Cory McElyea and Larry Iverson are each one stroke behind at +6 and tied for 45th.

Iverson, making his team tournament debut, shot out of the gates with 2-under 70 and was tied for fourth with a handful of golfers. He struggled in the afternoon and shot an 80.

Trevor Simsby -- like Choo, competing as an individual - combined for a 7-over and is tied for 51st.

Tuesday's final 18 holes starts tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start.

3	Washington	282	294	E	E
2	Chris Williams (2)	67	71	E (0)	-6
18	Charlie Hughes (1)	70	74	E (0)	E
T40	Kevin Spooner (3)	75	74	E (0)	+5
T45	Cory McElyea (4)	75	75	E (0)	+6
T45	Larry Iverson III (5)	70	80	E (0)	+6