Coming off of a tremendous second round, it looked like the No. 16 Oregon women’s golf team couldn’t replicate that performance to close out the Pac-12 Championship at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington. 

The Ducks entered Tuesday in third place out of the 11 team field, but the top four of the leaderboard remained unchanged through the final round. 

Oregon finished four strokes behind No. 7 USC and eight behind conference champions No. 1 Stanford. Throughout the tournament, Oregon showed its competency on the biggest stage of its season. 

On the final two days, each Oregon golfer shot par-or-better — aside from Ching-Tzu Chen on Tuesday — which is a testament to how strong and consistent this team can be. 

The Ducks never dropped lower than fourth at any point, and after the first day, they were tied for second. There was no major drop off, which was common for this team in the spring season. 

In the same vein, however, there was no major jump. While Oregon remained consistently within the top five throughout the competition, it didn’t find the edge which would have propelled them into a top two position. 

The Ducks were led all three days by their superstar Kiara Romero. Romero entered the final day in eighth, but her best round of the season brought her up five spots to third by the time the competition closed. 

Romero caught stride with four birdies on the front nine and stayed in that stride for the rest of the round. She shot three more birdies on the back nine, including two straight right at the end, for a season-high seven-under (65).

Her electric rookie spring season came to the best close that she could have imagined. A third-place finish behind two sophomores that have been here before is not something to balk at. 

Romero was just one stroke behind second place Kelly Xu from Stanford and six strokes behind individual medal winner Catherine Park from USC. 

Her performances throughout this spring have kept Oregon in the top 25 and has propelled the Ducks into NCAA Tournament-bid territory.

Another consistent performer, Minori Nagano, grew into this tournament similarly to Romero. 

After beginning the conference championship with a subpar performance, Nagano turned it around on the last two days to ensure a successful start to her postseason. 

Nagano climbed two spots in the final round for a tie at 11th. Her second straight under-par performance was all she needed to continue her climb up the leaderboard that she started on Monday. 

On the final day, Nagano shot five birdies and three bogeys on Tuesday, which carded her a two-under (70). If the Ducks get a bid to the NCAA Tournament, Nagano will be an important piece of the team.

Nagano tied with teammate Karen Tsuru in 11th, who had an opposite road through this competition. 

Tsuru remained consistent throughout the tournament, but on each day she dropped slightly. She improved from Monday to Tuesday, as she finished off the competition with a one-under (71). 

Tsuru’s day included three birdies and four bogeys, but was saved on the 17th hole where she shot an eagle. The clutch end to her day showed the poise needed to compete at the nation’s top competitions and will hope to continue this momentum at the NCAA Tournament.

On Tuesday, Chen was the only Duck to shoot above par, which dropped her 13 spots on the leaderboard in the final round. She tied for 26th in her final career conference championship.

Chen kept a complete par-or-better front nine, but after the turn is where things got rocky. On the last nine holes, Chen shot two birdies and two bogeys, but the glaring mistake was a double-bogey on the 15th hole.

Chen finished Tuesday with a two-over (74), which rounded out a typical tournament for the fifth-year. In her final career rounds, it is important that she tones back her mistakes in order to ensure her best golf. 

Ting-Hsuan Huang was another Duck that improved as the tournament went on. Her first round score (79)  was ten strokes higher than her second round score (69). 

Huang regressed slightly on the final day and shot a, mostly uneventful, three-birdie, three-bogey round. She finished the tournament with an even (72) and placed tied for 32nd. 

In the first event of the postseason, the Ducks proved to be one of the conference’s, and the nation’s, most complete teams. Every Oregon golfer finished the competition in the top 35 out of the 54 golfers, which is a tremendous takeaway for a team that tended to have golfers near the bottom. 

Oregon played two of its best team rounds in the last two days, which is a lot of needed momentum that it will carry into the rest of the postseason. 

The Ducks find out their regional matchup tomorrow at 11 a.m. on Golf Channel. 

Scorecard: Final round score (Par), Total Score (Par), Place in leaderboard

Romero: 65 (-7), 207 (-9), 3rd

Nagano: 70 (-2), 214 (-2), T-11th

Tsuru: 71 (-1), 214 (-2), T-11th

Chen: 74 (+2), 218 (+2), T-26th

Huang: 72 (E), 220 (+4), T-32nd

Oregon: 278 (-10), 848 (-16), 3rd out of 11