UTEP achieved its first top-5 finish of the season after a slow start, while Max Schliesing and Jacob Presutti finished in the top five on the final day at the 33rd Annual Duck Invitational hosted by Oregon at Eugene Country Club (par 71 | 6,995 yards) on Tuesday.
The Miners (300-298-287) shot 33-over par 885, tying fifth with Colorado (288-299-298). UTEP started slow, tying for 14th after the first round of play, but bounced back with a solid third round (287) to move up five spots. UTEP started tied 10th following the first two rounds, and moved up five more for its best finish of the season.
No. 28 Oregon (287-280-283) won the tournament at 2-under par 850, while Oregon State (290-289-278) finished second at 5-over par 857, and no. 23 Colorado State (289-287-293) finished third at 17-over par 869. The Ducks were the lone team to finish under par.
Schliesing (70-69-70) penciled in 4-under par 209, placing third. Schliesing led the field at 4-under on par-4 holes. He also shot 4-under on par 5’s. Schliesing tallied 12 birdies, tying second most. It was Schliesing’s second top three finish, and fourth top-10 finish of the season.
Presutti (73-71-67) finished at 3-under par 211, and closed with a season-low 67 in the final round of play to shoot up seven spots on the leaderboard. Presutti’s 67 also tied a career-low for the junior. Presutti recorded 38 pars, ranking tied fifth among the competitors. It was Presutti’s second top-10 finish of the season and fifth of his career.
Marcus Khaw (233), Greg Holmes (235) and El Paso product Ryan Lewis (239) rounded out the scores for the Miners. Lewis, a freshman from Coronado High School, competed in his second career tournament.
The course surrendered 162 pars and 29 birdies for the Miners.
Oregon State’s Mateo Fuenmayor (74-67-66) and Oregon’s Nate Stember (71-69-67) were co-champions after shooting 6-under par 207.
Fuenmayor (-6), Stember (-6), Schliesing (-4), and Presutti (-3) were the only competitors to shoot under par during the tournament on the par-71 course.
