Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1978)
emerald sports Golf Guide Above, the par three fifth hole at beautiful Eugene Country Club. Lindy Miller (inset) will lead favored Oklahoma State, the number one team in America. Golfers in Eugene for NCAAs The rolling fairways and un dulating greens of Eugene Coun try Club will serve as the sight of this year’s NCAA Golf Champion ship that will run next Thursday through Saturday, deciding both the team and individual champs for 1978. Although golf may not seem as glamorous or exciting as the track championship in Eugene, ten years from now it will be easier to name ten athletes that competed in the golf finals than ten that ap peared at Hayward Field. Most professional golfers are veterans of the NCAA tourna merit. Among the esteemed alumni from schools competing in the tournament this weekend are the following: Arnold Palmer, Lanny Wadkins (Wake Forest) Jack Nicklaus, Tom Wieskopf (Ohio State) Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite (Texas) Johnny Miller (Brigham Young) Tom Watson (Stanford) John Mahaffey (Houston) Among these, Nicklaus, Cren shaw and Mahaffey all became NCAA individual champions be fore becoming successful profes sionals. The course itself is thought to be one of the advantages the Oregon team has. The Country Club course is a stem test of golf that rewards a good shot and penalizes a bad one. With a course rating of 73.0 from the blue championship tees and the course stretched to as much as 7,000 yards, head groundskeeper Bill Norman believes the course will challenge even the best of America's young golfers. Water comeo into play, or bor ders about seven holes, and all greens are well bunkered. The greens are fast and all are undulat ing, which means there will be few level putts for competitors next weekend. The two biggest factors with the course, however, will be the three to four inch rough to catch errant shots, and the expected difficult pin placements to be determined each day by the NCAA officials. There will be no radical changes outside the extra-long rough. The course, lush from an abundance of rain, should be a factor because the Southern schools are used to a different type of course where the ball can be hit low. The advantage of Eugene goes to the players who hit the ball high. Next weekend, after NCAA track fever has melted away, come out to Eugene Country Club and watch the Duck’s go after the top spot in college golf. Even for those who are not golfers, this tournament, played on a beautiful and difficult golf course, will treat you to a glimpse at the U.S. Open and Master’s champs of the fu ture. * It’s an opportunity Oregon, or you, may never get again.
