PORTLAND, Oregon - Kaleiya Romero made an impression in the morning wave Thursday in the first round of The Standard Portland Classic, where she fired a 69, 3-under, including an eagle on the first hole, where she sank her approach shot on the par-4. She had five birdies on the day. Romero is tied for 33rd after the first round, with Mariel Galdiano taking the first lead with a 65, 7-under.

Romero is in her first year on the Epson Tour and sits at No. 2 in the Epson Tour Race for the Card as she is close to earning her LPGA Tour card for next year.

Romero was the graduate assistant on the Oregon Ducks women’s golf team from 2024-2025 season, where she was alongside her sister, Kiara Romero, who just completed her junior year at Oregon, while earning her LPGA Tour card through the LEAP program on Wednesday, August 12.

After the 2025 season, Kalieya Romero entered Q School in the fall, where she earned her Epson Tour card in 2026. That led to three top 15 finishes in her first three Epson Tour events.

Then she broke through in June with her first professional win at the Island Resort Championship, where she made an eagle on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff at Sweetgrass Golf Club. Romero has seven top 10 finishes on the Epson Tour this season and is primed to earn her LPGA Tour card for the 2027 season as the top 15 players in the season-long race earn their card.

The Standard Portland Classic, the longest-running non-major tournament on the LPGA Tour offered an exemption to Kaileya for the week.

“Yeah, this is my first exemption and first LPGA event that's not the U.S. Open, so I'm super happy for it to be in Oregon, kind of look a second home for me,” Romero said. “My brother and sister, actually my whole family is in town to come and watch. My boyfriend lives like 45 minutes away and he's going to caddie. So just to play in like a second home for me and have it be my first LPGA event is super special. For The Standard to allow me to be here, I'm super grateful for all of that.”

Romero attended Pepperdine University for four years before she took the grad assistant position alongside head coach Derek Radley.

“Yeah, after I finished at Pepperdine, I wasn't really sure what -- I wanted to play professionally, but I did Q-school and it didn't go the way I wanted it to, so I kind of took some time to reassess where I was at,” Romero said. “My sister and I, we were talking, and I was like, well, I'd love to do a Master’s (degree), and she and my brother had been at Oregon. I was like, Oregon would be perfect. So we talked to the coach about maybe being a GA.

“With that, I thought I was just going to be hanging out at practice, doing my master’s. But when our assistant coach got pregnant, they were like, oh, you're going to need to travel with us now and be our assistant coach for the spring, and I was super excited but I was kind of nervous because I didn't think I would actually be in a coaching role at all. I like it because it's a different story than a lot of people and their road to the LPGA, like mine took a different turn. But it still worked out okay.”

Kaleiya Romero caddied for Kiara last year at The Standard Portland Classic, where she finished tied for 7th. The two played in the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, where Kiara took 6th, and Kaleiya finished in 49th, becoming the ninth set of sisters to compete in the event in the same year.

“She was the World No. 1, so I was -- she's younger than me and I'm still learning from her. Even last year, I caddied for her at this event last year, so walking the course for four or five days, I feel like that kind of helped prepare me for now,” Romero said. “She almost came out to caddie, but she got into the Canadian tournament next week, so she has to head out for that."

“Just to have her kind of doing the same thing, and we're doing our best to both try and be out here next year, to be able to travel together and kind of share all these experiences is super awesome.”

Earlier in the week, Kalieya was asked about the difference between Oregon golf and courses all over the country.

“Yeah, I think the courses are different, just with the weather. When I was practicing at Oregon the last two years, you see rain, you get cold, and it's just a little bit different than growing up in California where it's always kind of sunny,” Romero said. “The courses are more narrow. There's a lot of trees. I think it trains you. I think it's harder out here.

“When I go to other places in the country, it's a little bit more relaxing because it's a little bit more open. But I think Oregon really prepares you for tough conditions. I think both my sister and I got a lot better when we were practicing out here in Oregon.”