Ducks March Up NCAA Leaderboard

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Grayhawk Golf Club again put up a fight Saturday against the best women’s golf teams in the country, but this time the No. 2-ranked Oregon women were equal to the task.

One day after shooting 9 over in gusting afternoon winds during the first round, the Ducks posted the best round so far by any team in the tournament in Saturday’s second round. Led by scores of 1-under 71 from Tze-Han (Heather) Lin and Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen, the UO women shot even par as a group Saturday to pick up four strokes on first-place Stanford and enter Sunday’s third round in second place overall.

The Ducks were slow starters again Saturday, and when their first player off the No. 1 tee — Ching-Tzu Chen — carded double bogey at No. 9, the UO women were 6 over for the day and 15 over for the tournament. That put them in a tie for 15th place overall, on the bubble to make the cut for Monday’s final round. But Nielsen got hot with three straight birdies beginning at No. 7, Chen birdied two of her first four holes after the turn and Briana Chacon teamed with Lin to go 4 under with no bogeys on the back nine.

Collectively, those four UO players whose scores counted Saturday played the back nine in 5 under. The rally stirred memories of Oregon’s Pac-12 Tournament victory, in which the Ducks used a blistering back nine during their second round to take command.

“We just hit some uncharacteristic shots on that front nine, but they really stayed positive,” UO coach Derek Radley said. “As we made the turn, (assistant) coach Monica Vaughn texted to let me know a couple putts dropped, and I saw a couple birdies too. I was like, all right, you can feel the momentum get going.

“So, got off to a slow start, but I’m extremely proud of how we finished.”

Oregon enters Sunday at 9-over 585 on the 6,340-yard Grayhawk Golf Club, four strokes behind the Cardinal. The Ducks have an 18-shot cushion on the two teams tied for 14th place, which would be the cut line as the field is narrowed following Sunday to 15 teams for Monday’s final round of stroke play.

“We’re behind only Stanford and we cut our deficit in half, which was huge,” Radley said. “At the turn I wasn’t necessarily feeling great. But really excited with the way we finished.”

How It Happened: Nielsen was the tone-setter for Oregon’s mid-round charge, getting up-and-down from a greenside bunker for a birdie on the par-5 seventh hole. She then carded birdie on No. 8 and No. 9 as well to finish the front nine at 1…