The Ducks played the back nine under par for the second day in a row Sunday, thanks to three birdies on the 18th hole that cemented Oregon’s hold on second place in the team race behind Stanford. Birdies on the final hole of the day by Briana Chacon, Ching-Tzu Chen and Tze-Han (Heather) Lin got the UO women to even par for the day, and for the second straight round at the 6,340-yard Grayhawk Golf Club.
The field was cut from 24 teams to 15 following Sunday’s round, and the Ducks advanced comfortably at 9-over 873 for the tournament. That trailed the Cardinal by nine strokes, after Stanford shot 5 under Sunday, but Oregon also had a four-stroke advantage on third-place Texas A&M.
A year after sitting in 10th place after three rounds, and ultimately falling short of reaching the match-play quarterfinals, Oregon enters Monday’s final round of stroke play in this year’s tournament with a 19-stroke lead over the eight-team cut line for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
“Each day we’re trying to keep the hammer down, and that’s what we talked about — not giving any shots away, and really capitalizing on opportunities out there,” UO coach Derek Radley said. “Finishing strong has been a motto of ours all year. So to finish the way we did, in style like that, shows me we’ve got confidence moving forward.”
The four Ducks whose scores counted Sunday were 1 over at the turn, a solid start on a day when the Ducks mostly just needed to avoid a disastrous fall down the leaderboard. That quartet was 3 over for the day through 16 holes, and poised to slip a spot or two in the team standings, before Chen finished her round birdie-birdie and both Chacon and Lin also birdied the par-5 18th hole.
Lin was Oregon’s last player of the day. Her third shot at 18 ended up on the back of the green, at the edge of the first cut where it met the rough. The ball settled just in front of a sand trap, a tricky lie that forced Lin to attempt a putt from her toes, perched in front of the trap. The Ducks’ lone senior drained the 40-footer, and Oregon had a surge of momentum to end the day.
“The last few holes were pretty good,” Lin said. “You know, 18 is obviously a birdie hole. I just had a lot of belief in my team that we would do well, and I think that’s why we’re in…
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