Three birdies on the 18th hole in Sunday’s third round of play helped Oregon stay in second place with the match-play quarterfinals approaching. 

For the second straight round, the Ducks shot even-par at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Duck’s second place spot behind Stanford was cemented by strong finishes by Briana Chacon, Ching-Tzu Chen and Tze-Han (Heather) Lin, all birdying the final hole. 

After three days, the Ducks are 9-over, which puts them in the group of 15 teams advancing, as nine of the 24 teams were cut after Sunday’s round. 

“Each day we’re trying to keep the hammer down, and that’s what we talked about —- not giving any shots away, and really capitalizing on opportunities out there,” Oregon head coach Derek Rakley said.

Individually, Lin is leading the way for the Ducks as she sits in second place at 2-under for the tournament. 

“The last few holes were pretty good,” Lin said. “You know, 18 is obviously a birdie hole. I just had a lot of belief in my team that we would do well, and I think that’s why we’re in a good position right now.” 

Lin opened the tournament with five consecutive birdies in Friday’s round and continued to shine on Sunday, sinking a 40-foot birdie putt from the fringe. 

The Pac-12 champion Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu also bounced back on Sunday with a 1-under, 71 round after two 4-over rounds to open up the tournament. 

The two other counting scores for the Ducks on Sunday consisted of Chen’s even-par, 72 and Chacon’s 2-over, 74. 

With one more round of stroke play on Monday, the Ducks are in a good position to earn a high seed for when match play begins. The Ducks sit nine strokes behind Stanford, but there is still a lot of golf to be played. 

“Naturally the final round of stroke play at the national championship is definitely the most pressure-packed day,” Radley said.

They’ll be grouped with Texas A&M and Stanford for the final round of stroke play, teeing off at 11:50 a.m. on Monday.