Tag: Oregon Golf

Golfer dies on Oregon course after tree crushes him: ‘Wrong spot at the wrong time’

There was nothing about the conditions that would have led anyone to think a tree could come down.

A 68-year-old man was killed last weekend when a tree snapped on the Oregon golf course he loved playing, pinning him to the ground.

Bob Dunn, who split time between Tillamook, Oregon, and a home in Nicaragua, was playing the Mook at Alderbrook when the tree collapsed and killed him.

The managing partners of the course released a statement on Facebook.

“Bob was not only a dedicated member of our golf community, but also a beloved friend to many,” the statement read. “His presence on the course brought joy and camaraderie, and he will be profoundly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.”

 

According to a story in the Oregonian, his playing partner said nothing about the conditions would have led the group to believe a tree could come down:

“We were just in the wrong spot at the wrong time,” said Hugh Ragle, who was playing golf with Dunn and Dunn’s son on Saturday at The Mook at Alderbrook course. “That tree came down without any wind. Just a crack, and boom, it was down.”

Fellow golfers say Dunn was well-liked and known for his habit of walking the course. After retiring from NW Natural Gas Company, he moved to San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, where he spent several months each year. In the rest of the year, he lived north of Tillamook, friends said.

Dunn was just getting ready for his return to Nicaragua but had scheduled a few more rounds with his buddies before he left, said Mark McClaskey, who golfed with Dunn several times a week.

Patrick Zweifel, a co-owner of The Mook, said maintenance crews removed probably 100 dangerous trees when he purchased the course two years ago. The alder tree didn’t show signs of being a problem at the time, he said. Now he plans to look again.

The Mook at Alderbrook was built in 1925.
: The best public-access and private golf courses in Oregon, ranked

Pro Duck Wyndham Clark Struggles in US Open title defense at Pinehurst No. 2

Former Oregon Ducks star Wyndham Clark struggled to defend his US Open title on Sunday at Pinehurst No. 2.

A year ago, former Oregon Ducks star Wyndham Clark had the greatest day of his career, winning the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club to claim his first major title in professional golf.

A year later, Clark didn’t quite have what it took to defend his title at the U.S. Open.

Clark was one of many golfer who got chewed up and spit out by Pinehurst No. 2 this weekend, carding an 11-over finish on Sunday. While Clark made the cut on the number, he never put together a great round, carding four consecutive rounds in the 70s, capped off with a frustrating 77 on Sunday.

Despite the poor performance, Clark is still among the most promising young players in the game right now, and he should be able to bounce back in short order.

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Oregon women’s golf falls to UCLA in NCAA Championship semifinals

The Ducks came up short to UCLA in the semifinals of the NCAA championships on Tuesday.

The Oregon Ducks’ women’s golf team saw their magical run come to an end on Tuesday afternoon in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships, falling 3-2 to the UCLA Bruins in the match-play portion of the championship.

The No. 7 seed Ducks started the day with a quarterfinal matchup with No. 2 seed LSU, winning match play 3-2 over the Tigers after freshman phenom Kiara Romero closed things out with a win on the final hole. Senior Ching-Tzu Chen also won her match one-up, while senior Minori Nagano dominated, winning 7-and-6 to put a point on the board.

However, things didn’t go as well in the afternoon against the Bruins, with the Ducks falling behind early and struggling to get back into things.

Oregon freshman Karen Tsuru lost her matchup with UCLA’s Caroline Canales, and Chen fell to UCLA’s Meghan Royal. Nagano pushed her match to the 17th hole to keep things alive, but ultimately ended up falling to Natalie Vo, sealing the win for UCLA.

Despite the ultimate loss, the day was a positive for the Ducks, who were not projected to upset LSU earlier in the day. It was just the third time in program history that Oregon made it to the match play stage of the NCAA Championships, and the second time that they made it to the semifinals in the last three years.

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Oregon women’s golf advances to match play at NCAA Championships

The Ducks are flying on to the match play portion of the NCAA Championships.

The Oregon Ducks women’s golf team did what they needed to do on Monday, finishing strong in the third and final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship and qualifying for the highly-anticipated match play, which begins on Tuesday.

The Ducks finished tied for sixth place in the stroke play, coming in at 19-over par. They will be the No. 7 seed in the match play, going up against 2-seed LSU in the first round of the match play.

True freshman Kiara Romero led the way once again for the Ducks, shooting an even 72 on the day and capping off a score of -4 for the stroke play. Romero finished in sixth place overall for the individual championship.

Ching-Tzu Chen and Minori Nagano combined to shoot 5-under par over their final nine holes of the day to help get the Ducks into position to make the cut.

The quarterfinals of the matchplay will take place on Tuesday morning, and the semifinals will be held in the afternoon.

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Oregon women’s golf advances to NCAA championships after 2nd place finish in Auburn regional

Another trip to the NCAA Championships for the Oregon Ducks’ women’s golf team.

The Oregon Ducks women’s golf team is headed to the NCAA national championships once again after an impressive showing in the Auburn Regionals early this week.

This is the first time Oregon is back in the NCAA championships after missing out on a bid in 2023.

The Ducks used a stellar final round on Wednesday to secure a second-place finish in the Auburn Regional, shooting 14-over on the week, four shots behind first-place finisher LSU, and seven shots ahead of third-place North Carolina.

Two young Ducks led the way, with freshmen Kiara Romero and Ting-Hsuan Huang both shooting 2-over on the tournament and finishing in 10th place individually. Ching-Tzu Chen finished in 12th with a 4-over for the tournament, freshman Karen Tsuru shot 6-over for a tie of 16th place, and senior Minori Nagano tied for 40th place with a 16-over finish.

With the top-five finish, Oregon now looks ahead to the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California. The tournament starts on May 17 and runs through the 22.

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Oregon Golf holds grand opening for ‘The Jake,’ state-of-the-art teaching facility, clubhouse

Oregon Golf holds grand opening for ‘The Jake,’ state-of-the-art teaching facility, clubhouse

In the world of college athletics, it’s not uncommon for some of the top universities in the nation to get caught up in an arms race.

When the success of your program — no matter what sport it may be — depends on the level of talent on the team, and that talent depends on recruiting, then it makes sense that schools want to be at the forefront when it comes to flashy facilities.

The Oregon Ducks golf programs just joined the race.

On Thursday afternoon, the University of Oregon held a grand opening for the Peter and Jan Jacobsen Oregon Golf Teaching Facility, nicknamed The Jake. The facility is located just south of Eugene, at Emerald Valley Golf and Resort in Creswell.

The facility now offers a home to the men’s and women’s golf teams at Oregon, both of which have seen unprecedented success over the past decade. It is fit with the latest in golf technology and resources in a weather-protected environment. The facility includes three oversized driving range bays with integrated TrackMan technology, an indoor putting studio, and a covered outdoor heated driving range.

Media members were able to get a look inside the facility on Thursday morning, with a tour of the grounds and a walk-through of all the latest technology that is included inside the building. Here’s a look at what we saw:

Former Oregon Duck Wyndham Clark in US Open contention heading into weekend

There’s a Pro Duck in the final pairing on Saturday at the U.S. Open. Let’s go Wyndham!

The best golfers in the world are currently battling it out at Los Angeles Country Club for the 2023 U.S. Open golf tournament, and former Oregon Duck star Wyndham Clark is right in the thick of it.

After shooting a solid round of 64 (-6) in the opening round on Thursday, Clark came back on a more difficult Friday and put up a round of 67 (-3) to secure the No. 2 spot on the leaderboard going into the weekend.

Clark currently trails only Rickie Fowler, who leads at -10 after shooting a U.S. Open record 62 (-8) on Thursday and following it up with a 68 (-2) on Friday.

Earlier this year, Clark picked up his first career PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship. After going pro in 2019, the former Duck has finished in the top 5 in five total tournaments with career earnings of over $11 million. After his stellar play earlier this year, Clark has said that the positive momentum has really helped him feel at ease this week going into the third major of the year.

“I’ve just been really positive and believing good things were going to happen, and staying in that mindset has really helped,” Clark said after the round on Friday. “I think if I stay in that positive mindset, and am just very slow and comfortable out there, then I will be in a great comfort zone and be able to make birdie putts and other putts and play the best that I can.”

After starting his college career at Oklahoma State, Clark transferred to Oregon for the 2016-17 season where he went on to win the Pac-12 Championship and finished 2nd at the NCAA Baton Rouge Invitational.

Clark will be paired with Fowler on Saturday in the third round of the U.S. Open and tee off at 3:40 p.m. PT.

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LOOK: ‘The Jake’ golf facility is making quick progress

The Oregon Ducks golf practice facility is quickly going up out at Emerald Valley Golf Course.

One of the newest state-of-the-art athletic facilities is currently being built for the Oregon Ducks men’s and women’s golf teams out at Emerald Valley Golf Course in Creswell, and it appears to be coming along nicely.

‘The Jake’ is a multi-million dollar practice facility that is going up just south of Eugene, named after Peter and Jan Jacobsen, a pair of historic figures in the world of Oregon golf. It is a 6,000-square-foot facility with three indoor driving bays, an indoor putting studio, and a heated outdoor driving range.

The facility broke ground earlier this spring and is expected to be completed at some point this fall, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony expected ahead of one of the Ducks’ home games during the 2023 season. This past week, Emerald Valley GC gave an update on how things are coming along a few months into the process, and it looks like a lot of progress is being made.

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Ducks finish 3rd to secure spot in 2023 NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club

Oregon will be making its 32nd all-time appearance at the NCAA Championships, and its first back-to-back appearance since a run of five straight from 2014-18.

For the second year in a row, the Oregon Ducks men’s golf team will be playing for a chance to win the NCAA Championships.

Casey Martin’s team secured a third-place finish at the NCAA Bath Regional this past week at Eagle Eye Country Club in Michigan.

With the top 5 teams in the regional advancing to the championships, the Ducks entered the final round on Wednesday with a nice cushion between themselves and the cut line. However, a rocky start saw that cushion shrink, but the team was able to settle in on the back-nine and finish at -14 for the tournament.

Georgia (-29), No. 3 Illinois (-21), No. 10 Florida (-12) and No. 15 Texas (-10) took the other four qualifying spots to next week’s 2023 NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale.

“Today was a difficult day,” Martin said. “The course played much harder than the last two days, and the stress was intense. But we weathered a bad stretch in the middle of the round and are so excited to be taking this crew back to Arizona.”

Oregon will be making its 32nd all-time appearance at the NCAA Championships, and its first back-to-back appearance since a run of five straight from 2014-18. The tournament starts on May 26.

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Ducks fall short of NCAA Championships bid with disappointment in regional

The Ducks’ season ended in disappointment, falling short of an NCAA Championship bid at the Westfield Regional.

It was a disappointing week for the Oregon Ducks women’s golf team at the Westfield Regional, where they finished in 10th place and fell short of a bid to the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club next week.

After entering the regional as a two-seed ranked No. 8 in the nation, for the Ducks to fall short is nothing less than disappointing.

“We’re obviously disappointed to see our season end and not have the opportunity to go back to Grayhawk for the NCAA Championships,” head coach Derek Radley said. “It was a tough week for us, but our ladies never stopped fighting and never gave up. I’m extremely proud of all of the hard work they put in this season and am thankful for the dedication they’ve shown to each other and to our program.”

A year ago, the Ducks finished as the runner-ups at Grayhawk, losing to the Stanford Cardinal in the national championships. They held a top-10 ranking throughout the 2023 season and won the Therese Hession Regional Challenge to open the spring for its seventh tournament win under Radley and assistant coach Monica Vaughn, and the Ducks posted an impressive runner-up showing at the Pac-12 Championships last month.

Oregon finished at +9 for the tournament, which was good for 10th place. After a tough showing in the first two rounds earlier this week, it was going to take a monstrous effort on Wednesday to get into the top 5 and advance to the championships.

The Ducks turned in an even-par showing in the final round.

No. 5 Mississippi State (19), Oregon State (-18), No. 17 Vanderbilt (-17), No. 25 Virginia (-15) and Tulsa (-9) earned the five qualifying spots.

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