PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – Freshman Tong An paced the Oregon women’s golf team with a 3-under 68 in the opening round of the spring season on Sunday in the Therese Hession Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes Golf Club.
The No. 6 Ducks finished the first of three rounds of stroke play with a 1-under 283, sitting in third place overall and just one stroke back of No. 3 South Carolina and No. 4 USC for the lead.
“It was great to be back out there competing as a team,” head coach Derek Radley said. “Our athletes put in great work throughout the winter break and came out ready to go today. I’m pleased with how we performed and we’re excited to come back and attack round two tomorrow.”
An made six birdies throughout the round and is tied for third place individually after 18 holes. Sophomore Kiara Romero matched An with six birdies of her own, making three in her final four holes to finish with a 1-under 70.
“AT (An) was terrific for us today, and you can really see the growth for her already just after going through a fall and winter at this level. And what a finish to the day by Kiara – we know what she’s capable of and she really came up clutch there at the end of the round.”
How it Happened: An was 1 over through her first two holes before ripping off four birdies in a five-hole stretch to get to 3 under. She was 2 under through 13 holes before going 1 under across her final five, with a birdie on No. 16.
It was the fourth par-or-better round so far as a Duck for An, and second sub-70 performance. She is just two strokes back of the individual leaders entering Monday’s second round.
Romero started her round with a birdie but was 2 over at the turn after making two bogeys and a double. She remained at 2 over through 14 holes before making three birdies in her final four holes to come in at 1 under.
Romero has now shot par-or-better in 31 of 42 rounds as a Duck, and she is tied for eighth place individually after 18 holes.
Freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham was 2 under across her final 13 holes to finish with a 1-over 72, and sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang rounded out Oregon’s counting scores with a 2-over 73.
Team Leaderboard (top 10):
T-1. South Carolina – 282 (-2)
T-1. USC – 282 (-2)
3. Oregon – 283 (-1)
4. Florida – 284 (E)
5. California – 285 (+1)
6. Arizona State – 286 (+2)
7. Pepperdine – 288 (+4)
8. UCLA – 290 (+6)
9. Texas – 291 (+7)
T-10. Arizona – 294 (+10)
T-10. Ohio State – 294 (+10)
Ducks on the Leaderboard:
T-3. Tong An – 68 (-3)
T-8. Kiara Romero – 70 (-1)
T-17. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham – 72 (+1)
T-26. Ting-Hsuan Huang – 73 (+2)
T-60. Karen Tsuru – 76 (+5)
Notable: Six birdies for both An and Romero tied for the fourth-most in the field on Sunday … The Ducks were the top team in round one on par-5 holes at 5 under … Oregon and South Carolina are tied for the team lead through 18 holes with 19 total birdies.
Up Next: Round two of the Therese Hession Regional Challenge will begin at 9:00 a.m. PT on Monday morning.
