[jwplayer keaYdjlV]
The Oregon Ducks women’s golf team was supposed to have a nice home-course advantage this year at the Pac-12 Championships, which are being held at the Eugene Country Club. The forecast called for cloudy skies and showers throughout the week, which head coach Derek Radley correctly described over the weekend as “Duck weather.”
Some high winds throughout Eugene mitigated that advantage, though. The No. 2 Ducks stayed afloat, but struggled to perform as they had expected coming into the day.
Following the first round, Oregon sits at No. 5 in the standings after carding a 295 (+7).
The top-ranked Stanford Cardinal led after 18 holes, carding a 290 (+2). The rest of the top-5 is rounded out with USC (292, +4), Washington (294, +6), and Arizona State (294, +6).
“Today was tough when that wind picked up; normally if it gets a little wet out here it’s never really windy,” UO coach Derek Radley said, via Rob Moseley. “So I was seeing some balls out there kind of in some spots that I don’t normally see. The next two days though, the wind is supposed to die down even if it’s supposed to rain, and that’ll be our comfort zone.”
Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu led the Ducks with an even-par round of 72, and she currently sits at No. 5 on the individual leaderboard. Tze-Han (Heather) Lin and Ching-Tzu Chen shot 2-over 74 and Briana Chacon finished at 3-over 75.
Team Leaderboard
1. Stanford — 290 (+2)
2. Southern California — 292 (+4)
T3. Washington — 294 (+6)
T3. Arizona State — 294 (+6)
5. Oregon — 295 (+7)
T6. Oregon State — 296 (+8)
T6. UCLA — 296 (+8)
8. Colorado — 302 (+14)
T9. Washington State — 305 (+17)
T9. Arizona — 305 (+17)
11. California — 313 (+25)
Going into the second round, there are six teams within 6-strokes of Stanford’s lead, so the leaderboard should see a lot of movement before all is said and done after the 54-hole tournament is concluded on Thursday.
“It’s pretty remarkable how many teams are bunched up right now,” Radley said. “We’re really all together. Obviously not the start we wanted; however, I kind of love where we’re at with two days to go. Excited just to recap together, figure out what’s wrong in some spots and figure out how to capitalize the next two days.”
Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.
Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
[mm-video type=video id=01g0yza9m67pe124fwaw playlist_id=01f27mq9z7hjgk6vc6 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g0yza9m67pe124fwaw/01g0yza9m67pe124fwaw-4ee90599ce1c9ed65f1640acfe2a58d0.jpg]
[listicle id=22866]