Ducks Punch Ticket To NCAA Championships

GOLD CANYON, Arizona - The Ducks women’s golf team is going back to the NCAA Championships thanks to their winning the NCAA Gold Canyon Regional on Wednesday.

The No. 5 Ducks shot their best round of the week with a 7-under 281 in the final round to win the tournament by nine strokes, securing the second NCAA Regional victory in program history.

Kiara Romero followed up her UO record 10-under 62 from Tuesday with a 4-under 68 on Wednesday to win individual medalist honors by seven strokes at 16-under par.

Oregon advances to the NCAA Championships for the 14th time in program history and fourth time in the last five years. The Ducks will return to Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. (May 16-21), after advancing through NCAA stroke play and reaching the match-play semifinals there last spring.

"Super proud of our team for not only punching their ticket to the NCAA Championships, but for coming out here and getting a win against a really good field," head coach Derek Radley said. "They didn't come here with the mindset of just finishing in the top five; they wanted to make a statement. Really pleased with the way our whole lineup performed today. It's not easy to get to the NCAA Championships, and these ladies have earned it. We're excited to get back to Carlsbad and see what we can do next week."

Oregon earned its third tournament win of the season and second in a row after running away with the Big Ten Championship a couple weeks ago. The Ducks are following in the path of the 2021-22 team that won the Pac-12 Championship and the NCAA Albuquerque Regional before going on to finish as the national runners-up.

Romero became the second Duck ever to win an NCAA Regional individual title, joining Briana Chacon from that 2021-22 team. The win was also Romero's second in a row after winning the Big Ten individual title, and she tied Kendra Little (2008-11) for the most career individual tournament wins with four.

Romero's 16-under 200 for the week is the second-lowest 54-hole total in program history, and her 22 total birdies for the week were nine more than any other player in the field. She also led the field by multiple strokes in both par-3 (-4) and par-4 (-8) scoring.

"What can you say about Kiara Romero at this point?" Radley said. "She is just on another level. The combination of talent, confidence and composure she has is incredible, especially at such a young age. Just an unbelievable performance by her this week to lead us and I'm so excited to see what she can do at nationals.

Romero was one of three Ducks to shoot under par on Wednesday, with freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham putting together her best round of the week with a 3-under 69 and sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang coming in right behind her with a 2-under 70. Freshman Tong An added a 2-over 74 as Oregon finished with four players in the individual top 15, with Vinijchaitham tying for eighth (E), An placing 11th (+1) and Huang tying for 15th (+3).

In the NCAA Championships there will be three rounds of stroke play before the field is cut to the top 15 teams for a final round of stroke play on Monday, May 19, with the top eight teams then advancing to match play. The match play quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Tuesday, May 20, with the championship match on Wednesday, May 21.