In Monday’s second round of the Pac-12 Championships at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington, the No. 16 Oregon women’s golf did something they haven’t this season – each player shot a complete par-or-better round. 

This performance surprisingly resulted in a drop to third from second – where the Ducks were at after Sunday. 

Oregon was jumped by No. 7 USC, who is four strokes ahead of the Ducks, while the leaders, No. 1 Stanford, are 10 strokes ahead of the Ducks. 

Kiara Romero, the nation’s No. 5 ranked golfer, continued her impressive first career postseason outing with another fantastic round. 

Romero kept it consistent in both sets of nine holes. Before the turn, Romero had parred every hole except for one bogey. She hit her stride almost as soon as the back nine began with an immediate birdie on her ninth hole. 

Romero followed that up with two more birdies before the close of her round, which carded her final score at a two-under (70). Romero moved down two spots in the second round to eighth, just one stroke behind a major tie for third place. 

Being eight strokes behind leader Catherine Park from USC, it is unlikely she makes that climb on the final day, but with another positive round, she will be able to move into the top five. 

Karen Tsuru was the Ducks’ best performer on day one in Pullman, as she entered Monday tied for third place. Tsuru regressed in the second round and dropped six places to a tie for ninth, which is just one stroke behind Romero. 

Tsuru shot an even three birdies and three bogeys in her second round, so she finished with an even (72) — the worst score on the team for the second round. 

With Tsuru’s regression on day two, it will be hard for her to capture the energy from the opening round. Monday was still a good day on the links for her and she has many positives to take from it.  

Ching-Tzu Chen tied for the best score out of any Duck on Monday, which began with a complete par-or-better front nine which ended with two straight birdies at the end. Chen kept it consistent throughout the rest of the day with two more birdies and a bogey. 

Tying her best round score of the season, Chen finished with a three-under (69), which matched Minori Nagano and Ting-Hsuan Huang’s Monday scores. Chen also tied for 13th with Nagano, which is impressive considering her four-spot jump.

Nagano’s front nine was not suggestive of the incredible finish she would have. Nagano shot two birdies, one bogey and one double-bogey on the front nine, which scored her at one-over (37) at the turn.

Her recovery ended up being her best nine-hole stretch of the season. 

On the back nine, Nagano started with two straight birdies, lost rhythm for a little by shooting one bogey and then got right back into it and shot three more birdies to finish the round. 

Nagano can carry this unreal momentum into the final day and cause major movement in the standings. 

Huang kept a clean front nine with just one birdie, so she was par-or-better to start her day. After the turn, Huang shot three more birdies and one bogey, which because of her tremendous day, placed her tied for 34th. 

Huang scored 10 strokes better than she did on Sunday, which is a lot of momentum that she will look to translate in Tuesday’s final round. 

Oregon, along with the other schools, had a much better day than it did on Sunday, which can definitely continue. The key will be to ensure that the bottom part of the lineup is able to produce at the level they did today. 

The Ducks can always rely on Romero and Tsuru, they just need more from the rest, and they will be slated for a run at the top of the leaderboard on Tuesday. 

Scorecard: Round score (Par), Total score (Par), Place in leaderboard

Romero: 70 (-2), 142 (-2), 8th

Tsuru: 72 (E), 143 (-1), T-9th

Chen: 69 (-3), 144 (E), T-13th

Nagano: 69 (-3), 144 (E), T-13th

Huang: 69 (-3), 148 (+4), T-34th

Oregon: 277 (-11), 570 (-6), 3rd out of 11 Schools