As expected, the No. 33 Oregon women’s golf team received its fourth-straight postseason bid Monday afternoon, six days after the Ducks finished seventh at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships in Tempe, Ariz.
Oregon, which will be seeking its first back-to-back NCAA Championship appearance since 1997-98, will compete in the three-day, three-round NCAA West Regional at the Washington National Golf Course in Auburn, Wash.
Play will run from Thursday-Saturday, May 5-7 at the par-72, 6,321-yard course.
Last season, the Ducks traveled to Columbus, Ind., and tied their second-best regional placing by finishing in a tie for sixth, which was five places better than their pre-tournament seeding of 11th. Oregon received the same ranking in 2011, with the top eight finishers advancing to the NCAA Championships.
Among the field, Oregon will face (in order of tournament ranking): USC, Virginia, Arizona, Georgia, Tennessee, Pepperdine, Iowa State, UC Davis, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington, Tulsa, Denver, San Diego State, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Texas-San Antonio, Portland, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Oral Roberts and Texas-El Paso.
Six individuals also qualified for the West Regional — Kayla Mortellaro and Teo Poplawski of Idaho, Amy Anderson of North Dakota State, Brianna Espinoza of Colorado State, Jessica Hollandsworth of Maryland and Chelsey Cothran of Baylor.
Oregon senior Kendra Little paced the Ducks at last year’s regional tournament by placing eighth overall (70-79-79—228), two strokes ahead of teammate Cheyenne Hickle in 12th. Junior Ashley Edwards tied for 38th in that tournament, while Erica Omlid tied for 79th and then-senior Kate Hildahl rounded out the scoring in a tie for 89th.
Tee times are set for 8 a.m. each morning, beginning on holes one and 10.
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