CARMEL, California — Sebastian Desoisa has been living in the U.S. for all of about three months, but he feels right at home, especially on the golf course.
“American golf suits my game,” Deosisa said. “In Europe, there’s a lot of links courses and the weather’s not great, but here, everything’s perfect and you’re kind of just trying to hit bombs and make putts.”
The Oregon freshman from Gibraltar turned in two blistering rounds of 64 and 66 on Monday to enter the final round of the 2025 Preserve Golf Club Collegiate at 14 under, in prime position to secure the first win as a Duck. Some players still have to finish their second round Tuesday morning, but as it stood Monday night, Desoisa was a whopping five shots clear of the field.
He started on hole No. 9 and played his first round bogey-free, capping it off with an eagle on the par-5 eighth. His lone bogey of the day came on his second time playing the long par-3 14th at the Preserve Golf Club, but he offset that blemish with 13 birdies across 36 holes.
“My game was just really good,” he said. “I didn’t really miss a fairway and the best part of my game was my irons. It just seemed like all of them were going to every flag that I looked at. I managed to roll a couple of putts in. Left a couple out there, but I can’t really complain about today. I played very well.”
Desoisa is no stranger to being in the lead. He arrived at Oregon on the heels of a decorated junior amateur career, which saw him win the Triple A European Masters and a U18 Spanish National Championship, among other high-profile victories. He also represented England at the Junior World Cup twice.
“I’ve been playing big amateur events around Europe, but it’s been a big transition to college golf. It’s very different here in America. The courses and around the greens, it’s like what you see on TV on the PGA Tour.”
The adjustment from links golf to the modern American style of layout is no joke, but it’s probably not as difficult as the adjustment to living in an entirely new country nearly halfway across the world. That’s where Desoisa said those within the Oregon golf program have really helped him.
“Eugene is a cool place. The program is great and everyone is super nice. I’m enjoying my time. I feel like I made a great choice [coming to Oregon].”
Desoisa’s origin story in golf is similar to many: His dad got him started with plastic clubs and “the rest was history.” When not at school, he lives in Gibraltar with his family, but he and his dad cross into the south of Spain to play at their home club, La Hacienda Golf Links.
Now, nearly 6,000 miles from home, he will (more than likely) hold the 36-hole lead at a college golf event featuring a solid 72-man field from 11 different schools. He didn’t seem like much of a leaderboard watcher, though.
“I don’t even know where I am on the leaderboard. I haven’t checked yet,” he said nearly two hours after play had concluded for the day. “I played well today. I just need to play well again.”
No. 25 BYU ended Monday atop the team leaderboard at 26 under, although none of its players were able to complete the second round. Still, it was an impressive day from the Cougars, who boast three players in the top 10 with roughly 33 holes in the books. Simon Kwan leads the way for BYU at 9 under and in a tie for second place with Grand Canyon’s Mans Boje.