The Oregon Ducks don’t exactly come to mind as a NCAA golf powerhouse, as those thoughts are usually reserved for the likes of warmer climate teams like Texas, Florida or Arizona State. On Wednesday, though, the Ducks clinched their first-ever team title , which came in Casey Martin’s 10th season as head coach.
Martin’s name will be familiar to many sports observers for reasons beyond his time at Oregon, of course, as he famously beat the PGA Tour in the Supreme Court in a fight over the Americans with Disabilities Act. That fight was to force them to let him use the golf cart he needed to play (he has Klippel–Trénaunay syndrome, which has atrophied one of his legs and makes it extremely difficult for him to walk). He went on to play in numerous PGA Tour events and qualify for several U.S. Opens. It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Martin, though, as his fight for access took plenty of criticism from prominent golf figures at the time, and even after many came around, he still ran into misguided organizers trying to interfere with his cart and his ability to do his job as a coach. Now, his Oregon team has won NCAA golf’s top prize for the first time.
The Ducks did so in remarkable fashion, too, coming in as the sixth seed and the 26th-ranked team. They pulling off an amazing comeback over Texas in the final to win it all in their hometown of Eugene, with local product Sulman Raza leading the way. The final matchup with the Longhorns all came down to one putt from Raza on the third of three playoff holes:
Raza was mobbed by his fellow teammates, most of the Ducks’ women’s golf team and just about anyone else associated with the program overall. While most will think of Oregon and football, track & field and basketball, golf just put itself on the map there too, and this is a big victory for Martin, Raza, and everyone else involved with the program. Just one question: what kind of crazy championship gear will Phil Knight and Nike have worked up for these Ducks?
