The No. 34 Oregon women’s golf team begins play at the NCAA West Regional today in Auburn, Wash., looking to improve upon its sixth place finish last year.
The tournament will last three rounds from Thursday to Saturday, and the top eight finishers will move on to the NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas.
If the Ducks want to compete in the NCAA Championships for a second straight year, they will have to fend off a highly talented field. No. 1 USC, No. 7 Arizona and No. 38 Washington are among the Pacific-10 Conference schools competing, along with No. 6 Virginia, No. 12 Georgia and No. 13 Tennessee. In all, Oregon comes in at the middle of the pack as the 11th highest ranked school among the 24 competing.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4397&SPID=247&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205146813&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
As usual, Kendra Little will lead the Ducks into the fray. The senior has plenty of experience in regional play after finishing eighth overall last year and 17th overall in 2008. Sophomore Cheyenne Hickle, meanwhile, hopes to come through with another sterling performance after a 12th place finish last year.
In the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago, Oregon finished seventh overall. Little managed an impressive individual performance, tying for sixth overall, while senior Erica Omlid tied for 15th overall.
Tee time is set for 8 a.m. today.