After Friday’s opening round of the NCAA women’s golf Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Ducks sat in second place just one shot behind Texas.
Just three days later, they found themselves in 11th place, three spots away from qualifying for match play and out of the tournament.
The biggest reason for the plummet in the standings? A poor team performance on Saturday’s second round.
After a blistering opening round where Briana Chacon, Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu, and Tze-Han (Heather) Lin all flirted with even-pars, the Ducks shot a 12-over 300 on Saturday.
Chacon and Ching-Tzu Chen had solid rounds, shooting an even-par and 1-under 71 respectively. Lu however, fell 56 spots from the first round to 61st place after a tough 6-over 78. Add this to tough rounds from Sofie Kibsgaard Nielson and Lin, who were in 91st and 96th place respectively after day two, and Oregon found themselves in ninth place.
Round three looked more promising than the previous one, but Oregon was not able to gain much ground on Sunday. Chacon and Lu both shot 1-over 73’s while sophomore Ching-Tzu Chen added an impressive 1-under 71. Chen’s long birdie on the 18th hole to move her under par highlighted the day.
Despite shooting seven strokes better than they did the day before, the Ducks moved down to tenth place. This allowed them to make the first round of cuts as the bracket went from 24 to 15 teams, but they needed a big performance on Monday to make the eight team cut.
Chen and Lin led the way by firing an even-par and a 2-under 70 respectively on Monday’s fourth round. This finish allowed Chen to close out the tournament strong tied for 20th.
A 7-over from Chacon and 4-over from Lu balanced Chen and Lin’s performances however, as Oregon fell down another spot, and out of the tournament.
The Ole Miss Rebels went on to win the tournament – the school’s first ever.
When looking at the season in the grand scheme of things however, there is nothing for Oregon to hang their heads for. The Ducks finished in the top five of every tournament they attended this season up until Scottsdale, and they even tied for first at the Ping ASU Invitational.
More promisingly, four of the team’s six golfers on the team are currently underclasswoman. Experience at the championships will only help a young group like this, and they will only become better with time.
