When the time comes for postseason play, teams often have to rely on experience to ensure success. 

Not the Ducks. 

On day one of the final Pac-12 Women’s Golf Championship at Palouse Ridge Golf Course in Pullman, Washington, No. 16 Oregon proved the opposite, as the Ducks placed second out of the 11 teams behind productive days from freshman phenoms Karen Tsuru and Kiara Romero – the No. 5 ranked player in the country. 

Oregon is seven strokes behind leaders No. 1 Stanford — which is a large lead — but with two days left, the Ducks will be able to chip into it. 

Tsuru began her day in rhythm with an immediate birdie, and kept it consistent throughout the front nine with just one more birdie and a bogey. At the turn, Tsuru was one-under (35). She kept the rest of the day clean with one more birdie and bogey each. 

Tsuru finished with a one-under (71), which is tied for third place in the 54-golfer competition with Stanford’s Megha Ganne and Rachel Heck, and one stroke behind the leaders Catherine Park from No. 9 USC and Madelyn Gamble from Washington State.

The Ducks’ brightest star, Romero, also performed at a high level on Sunday. She was an even (36) on both her front and back nines in round one. 

On the front, Romero shot two birdies and two bogeys, while on the back, she shot one birdie and one bogey. Even though every birdie was accompanied by a bogey, the presence of those birdies is a positive sign as she gets used to the course a lot more. 

Romero closed the first day tied for sixth, but she is hoping to start her climb to the top tomorrow.

Given the golf she was playing towards the end of the postseason, Ching-Tzu Chen would have wished for an entirely different outing than she had on Sunday. 

Chen had a mixed bag on day one in Pullman, as she opened with a birdie, a bogey and then a double-bogey in just her first four holes. That theme would continue throughout the round, as her rollercoaster did not stop there. 

She would round out the opening day with three bogeys and two birdies afterward, which brought her to a three-over (75). 

Chen tied for 17th with teammate Minori Nagano, who performed similarly. 

Nagano shot more pars, however, which was mainly due to the fact she was able to reign in her mistakes and keep a clean game for decent stretches. After a one bogey, one-over (37) on her front nine, Nagano failed to show the same consistency to close out her round. 

Nagano shot three more bogeys and one birdie on her final nine holes, which brought her to a three-over (75). In this competition, top 20 is a fantastic finish for any player, so for the Ducks to have four within that range is super positive as the tournament unfolds. 

The third freshman in the lineup, Ting-Hsuan Huang, never secured a foothold in Sunday’s round, as she shot just one birdie in a seven-over (79) in her first career postseason round. Huang also added six bogeys and one double-bogey, which ended up being the main killers in the round. 

Huang tied for 44th, which is just four strokes ahead of the bottom of the leaderboard. 

The Ducks will need more production from the bottom portion of the lineup in the coming days if they are to challenge for the final Pac-12 crown. 

Romero and Tsuru have proven capable of getting it done at a high level on the biggest stages, but it is up to the rest of the squad to define the conference championships for Oregon. The Ducks return tomorrow morning to try and chip away at the large Stanford team lead. 

Scorecard: Round Score (Par), Place in leaderboard

Tsuru: 71 (-1), T-3rd

Romero: 72 (E), T-6th

Chen: 75 (+5), T-17th

Nagano: 75 (+5), T-17th

Huang: 79 (+7), T-44th

Oregon: 293 (+5), 2nd out of 11 schools