Aiden Krafft, Ducks Junior Claims Sahalee Players Championship on Sunday

Oregon Ducks men’s golfer Aiden Krafft claimed his first career victory Sunday at the Sahalee Players Championship in Sammamish, Washington thanks to some clutch putting.

Krafft shot a -1 (71) on the third round of competition, following Saturday’s 36 holes in the championship for a total of 4-under 71-70-71 – 212. Krafft made birdies on holes No. 6 and No. 8 getting him to -4 under par for the tournament. He would sink a short par putt on the par-3 ninth hole to earn his first collegiate individual victory.

Krafft’s 1-under performance in the final round was enough to jump Arizona State’s Jose Luis Ballester and Preston Summerhays. Ballester won the 2024 U.S. Amateur on August 18.

“Amazing couple of days for Aiden,” Oregon Ducks Men’s Golf head coach Casey Martin said. “He has been up early every morning working on his game, grinding away. I’m so happy he gets to enjoy the results of his hard work.”

Led by Krafft’s performance, Oregon finished the first tournament of the fall slate in a tie for sixth, climbing up four spots from Saturday. Arizona State claimed the team title at 7-under, 11 strokes ahead of second-place Florida.

The rest of the Oregon lineup was better today as the Ducks posted a 2-under 286 in the final round, their low for the tournament.

Greyson Leach climbed 15 spots up the leaderboard after he posted a bogey-free scorecard in the final round, tallying 16 pars and a pair of birdies for a 2-under 70 to finish tied for sixth at 1-under.

“We had a better day today,” Martin said. “The course will humble you, so to have the guys battle through the adversity and have some success was nice. Greyson also played beautifully all weekend.”

The Ducks posted the best finish of the three Big Ten teams in the field, beating Northwestern (+22) and host Washington (+41).

Oregon will return to Seattle for the Husky Invitational on Sept. 24-25 for the two-day event, hosted by Washington, which will be held at Aldarra Golf Club.