The spring season came to a close for the No. 44 Oregon women’s golf team Saturday with a 13th-place finish in the NCAA West Regional at Lincoln Hills Golf Course.
The Ducks climbed one spot in the final round but fell nine strokes short of an eighth-place finish that would have sent them to the NCAA Championships next week in Las Cruces, N.M.
No. 2 USC stretched its seven-stroke lead to 25 strokes in the final round to win the regional, followed by No. 4 Arizona State in the runner-up spot. Among other Pacific-10 Conference entries, No. 12 Arizona qualified with a fourth-place finish and No. 22 Stanford tied for the final qualifying spot but missed taking the next step when a tiebreaker went to the Texas A&M Aggies.
Individually for the Ducks, freshman Kendra Little was the top finisher with a tie for 17th on rounds of 71, 75 and 74 for a three-day score of 220. She finished just two strokes back of Erica Moston of San Jose State (218) for the second of two individual qualifying spots in the NCAA Championships and three behind Stanford’s Angela King (217) for the other berth.
Junior Cathryn Bristow notched the lowest score of the final round for the Ducks with a 73 to finish in a tie for 35th. The Ducks also counted scores Saturday from sophomore Felicia Eastick (56th-tie, 228) and freshman Erica Omlid (80th-tie 232). Oregon’s regional squad also included sophomore Kate Hildahl (86th-tie, 234).
On the individual leaderboard, UNLV’s second-day leader Therese Koelbaek tied for first place (210) with Arizona’s Alison Walshe (210). USC’s Stefanie Endstrasser (211) and Arizona State’s Azahara Munoz (211) trailed in a tie for third place.
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