CHICAGO — The Oregon women’s golf team will enter the final round of the Windy City Classic in fifth place at 14-under par after posting an 8-under 280 in round one and a 6-under 282 in round two on Monday at Glen View Club.
The Ducks were in fourth place following a relatively clean opening round, which featured 18 total birdies and just 10 bogeys from the six student-athletes in action. Oregon made more birdies in the second round with 24, but those were offset by 22 bogeys and a double bogey.
Fifth-year senior Ching-Tzu Chen is in a tie for fifth at 5-under par after 36 holes to lead the Ducks, with freshman Kiara Romero and fifth-year senior Briana Chacon one stroke back at 4 under.
How it Happened: Chacon and Chen combined to shoot 7-under par in the opening round with a 4-under 68 and 3-under 69, respectively. Romero came in with a 1-under 71, and both Ashleigh Park and Minori Nagano carded even-par 72s to round out the counting scores. Sophomore Anika Varma, competing this week as an individual, also fired an even-par 72 to put all six Ducks at par-or-better.
All six players made at least two birdies in round one, and none made more than two bogeys. Chacon led UO with five birdies, including three straight while shooting 4 under through her first 10 holes. With her first four birdies, Chacon became just the sixth Duck ever to reach 300 in a career.
It was Romero who got hot early in the second round, making three birdies in a row to go 3 under through her first 13 holes. The freshman led Oregon with a 3-under 69, her eighth straight round of par-or-better to kick off her collegiate career. Chen made five birdies for a 2-under 70, and Park drained five birdies of her own to finish with a 1-under 71. Chacon completed the counting scores with an even-par 72.
The Ducks go into Tuesday 10 strokes back of first-place UCLA (-24), but just two strokes behind second-place Texas (-16). Six teams, including UCLA and Texas, will need to finish round two on Tuesday after play was suspended due to darkness.
Ducks on the Leaderboard:
5. Oregon – 280-282 – 562 (-14)
T5. Ching-Tzu Chen – 69-70 – 139 (-5)
T10. Briana Chacon – 68-72 – 140 (-4)
T10. Kiara Romero – 71-69 – 140 (-4)
T39. Ashleigh Park – 72-71 – 143 (-1)
57. Anika Varma* – 72-74 – 146 (+2)
T65. Minori Nagano – 72-77 – 149 (+5)
* Competing as an individual
Notable: Oregon has been the best team in the field on par-3 holes at 4-under par … Chen leads the Ducks with nine total birdies, tied for sixth-most among all players.
Up Next: The Ducks will begin Tuesday’s final round at 5:39 a.m. PT on hole No. 10.
