SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Oregon State had just won the Bandon Dunes Championship on March 10, 2020. It was the Beavers’ fourth win of the year and head coach Jon Reehoorn’s squad was now ranked in the top 40 in college golf.
Then the world came to a halt. COVID hit and the college golf season was over.
Oregon State was one of those teams that was garnering some attention. A team that was eyeing a trip to the NCAA finals for the first time in Reehoorn’s tenure as a head coach and the program’s first since the 2010 championship at The Honors Course under the direction of former coach Brian Watts.
A return trip to the postseason was something the squad was itching for. The 2019 postseason saw the Beavers earn one of the last at-large bids and then rewarded with a trip to the Myrtle Beach Regional. That season came to an end with an 11th-place finish.
All the hard work and the progression that took place during that time to get back into position for another shot to make a run the next year stopped.
“It was like you got punched in the gut and in that moment the season was over,” said Reehoorn.
Every school has a COVID story. But this year, with the return of college a year later, Oregon State picked up right where it left off.
Sort of.
Many people asked Reehoorn what it was like for his players not to be able to play golf. At first Reehoorn dismissed it.
“They still get to play,” he said, “not that big of a deal.”
However, when Oregon State showed up for its first competition, he realized he may have mis-read the situation.
“At that first tournament in Arizona, it was like I was watching an out-of-body experience. They were not ready. They had not felt nerves in a tournament for a year.”
Oregon State would go on to T-10 in that first event back and then follow that up with a T-3, T-10 and ninth. Those first four events left the Beavers on the bubble with the season nearly half over.
When it comes to turning a season around, winning a tournament against your rival on their home course usually does the trick. That’s what the Beavers did in their next stop, claiming victory at the Duck Invitational in March.
“Since the Duck Invitational they have been really good. The Duck was massive,” said Reehoorn.
That victory is where you can point to things picking back up for the Beavers. They would go on to finish the regular season strong at the Thunderbird Collegiate (5th) and Pac-12 Conference Championship (6th).
Following that stretch, Oregon State moved off the bubble and knew a tee time in regional play was certain.
A big reason for Oregon State’s success was the return of fifth-year seniors Shawn Lu and Kyosuke Hara.
“The reason they came back was for us to get here,” said Reehoorn. “So, it’s pretty cool to be here.”
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Lu acknowledged that it was a slow start, but also points to the final few events that got the Beavers going.
“Fast forward a year and it’s finally paid off pretty much,” said Lu. “I feel like we have finally gotten to a spot where we can achieve something more than just winning golf tournaments. Now we are here – it’s fulfilling. It’s really cool.”
Reehoorn is confident in his group. The Beavers were third amongst morning wave teams at 6-over 286 and remained middle of the pack through the afternoon.
“For whatever reason, our guys from the Northwest, when we get to the desert they seem to really like it. We played awesome at Papago (Thunderbird) and played great in Albuquerque (Regional). And today we were really good until the last few holes.”
It took Lu about a month to decide on his return to Corvallis and with Hara coming back as well, it made the decision easier.
“I got another year to come back and trying to finish off what we didn’t get to do (before COVID),” said Lu.
What they didn’t get to was do what they did today. What they did today was get off to a good start and continue building on where they left off in March of 2020.
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