Ducks in Fourth Entering Final Round

AUBURN, Ala. — The Oregon women's golf team will enter the final round of the NCAA Auburn Regional in fourth place after finishing Tuesday's second round with a 9-over 297 at Auburn University Club.
 
The No. 14 Ducks improved by one stroke from Monday's opening round, and will go into Wednesday one stroke above the cut line at 19-over par. No. 7 Auburn leads the field on its home course at 1-over par, with Houston in second at 15-over par and North Carolina in third at 16 over. Georgia and Tulsa are currently tied for the fifth and final qualifying spot at 20-over par, with No. 2 South Carolina just two strokes behind at 22 over.
 
The top five teams after the final round will advance to the 2024 NCAA Championships (May 17-22) in Carlsbad, Calif.
 
"Today was a grind for our team," head coach Derek Radley said. "Outside of a couple holes that kind of inflated our score, I thought we did a nice job of executing our game plan, especially on the front nine. We're in the mix going into the final round and that's what you want at a regional, especially against a very competitive field. I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings."
 
How it Happened: After combining to shoot 12-over par on the front nine on Monday, the Ducks got off to a much better start on Tuesday by going just 3-over par across the first nine holes, and even par when only including the top four counting scorers. The back nine gave Oregon more trouble; the Ducks made three birdies but also had nine bogeys, a double bogey and a quadruple bogey.
 
Despite an uneven back nine – inflated by those two larger numbers – Oregon finished with the fifth-best team score of the round and still managed to improve by a stroke from round one.
 
Kiara Romero, Karen Tsuru and Ching-Tzu Chen all came in with a 2-over 74 to pace Oregon's scorecard, and Ting-Hsuan Huang rounded out the counting scores with a 3-over 75. Huang was 1-under par on the day aside from a quadruple bogey on No. 12, and Romero was even other than a double on No. 13.
 
Romero will enter the final round as the top Duck on the individual leaderboard in a tie for 11th at 3-over par, and Huang is just one stroke in a tie for 14th. Houston's Moa Svedenskiold leads the individual field at 3-under par.
 
Ducks on the Leaderboard:
4. Oregon – 298-297 – 595 (+19)
T11. Kiara Romero – 73-74 – 147 (+3)
T14. Ting-Hsuan Huang – 73-75 – 148 (+4)
T21. Ching-Tzu Chen – 76-74 – 150 (+6)
T21. Karen Tsuru – 76-74 – 150 (+6)
T37. Minori Nagano – 76-78 – 154 (+10)
 
Notable: With a birdie on Tuesday, Chen now has 341 in her career and is tied with Kathleen Scavo (2016-19) for No. 3 in program history … With six birdies this week, Romero now has 101 in 2023-24 to rank sixth in UO single-season history … Romero is the seventh player in program history to reach 100 birdies in a season … Oregon leads the field with 130 total pars, but is tied for seventh in birdies (15) … The Ducks also lead the field in par-3 scoring at 3-over par … Chen and Tsuru are tied for second in the field in total pars (28), and Chen is tied for the top individual score on par-3s (-1).
 
Up Next: The third and final round of the NCAA Auburn Regional will begin at 6 a.m. PT on Wednesday.