Oregon women's golf struggles in Monday's windy opening round of Pac-12 championship

It was a tough day for Oregon on its home course.

Good thing for the Ducks, there’s plenty of time to improve.

Second-ranked Oregon is in fifth place after Monday’s opening round of the Pac-12 women’s golf championship, a three-day, 54-hole event on the par-72, 6,267-yard course at Eugene Country Club.

The Ducks collectively shot 7-over-par 295 and are five shots behind No. 1 Stanford for the lead.

Cynthia Lu had Oregon’s best individual score, as she shot even par and is in a tie for fifth in the individual standings. Heather Lin and Ching-Tzu Chen are among those tied for 15th at 2-over.

“Obviously not the start that we wanted, however, I kind of love where we’re at with two days to go,” coach Derek Radley said. “Excited to kind of recap today, figure out what went wrong in some spots and figure how to capitalize the next two days.”

The Ducks aren’t in unfamiliar territory, as they’ve spent much of their season improving through the final two rounds of tournaments. In five of their nine tournament during the 2021-22 season, their first round was their worst round.

“The next two days, I’m excited to see them settle down a little bit and just do what they do,” Radley said. “I’m fully confident in what we’re gonna do the next two days and I know they will be too.”

Stanford still strong without top player

Oregon was paired up Monday with the Cardinal, which is playing without star sophomore Rachel Heck. The reigning NCAA and Pac-12 individual champion is out with an illness.

Stanford remains formidable however, as it ended the round with three players in the top 10.

Stanford freshman Rose Zhang, who is ranked No. 1 nationally by GolfStat, was one of just four players to shoot under par as she finished at 1-under 71 and is tied for second with Washington’s Stefanie Deng and Arizona State’s Alessandra Fanali.

Southern California’s Brianna Navarrosa is the leader at 2-under 70.

Also playing well for Stanford was Brooke Seay, who is tied for fifth at even par, and Aline Krauter, who is tied for ninth at 1-over.

Oregon State is tied for sixth with UCLA at 8-over 296. OSU's Kelsey Webster sits in a tie for ninth place at 1-over. Issy Taylor and Madde Sund are tied for 15th at 2-over.

Windy weather adds to the action

Lu ( 34-38 — 72) was 1-under through nine holes for Oregon, but bogeyed the 168-yard par-3 12th and 345-yard par-4 14th to drop to 1-over for the first time. She rallied to birdie the 474-yard par-5 16th to get back to even.

Lin (37-37 — 74) and Chen (34-40 — 74) also had some struggles on the back nine, when all players had to battle through periodic gusts of wind that made the game a little more adventurous.

Chen was at 1-under when she made turn but had four bogeys on the back nine to finish 2-over.

Lin was 2-over at the turn then had two birdies and two bogeys on four of the last seven holes.

“Today was tough when that wind picked up,” Radley said. “Even if it gets a little wet here it’s never windy, and so, that was new. I was seeing some balls out there in spots I normally don’t see. I think the next two days the wind is supposed to die down even if is supposed to rain and that’ll be our comfort zone.”

Junior Briana Chacon (37-38 — 75) finished 3-over with an opening round that included four bogeys and one birdie.

It was an especially rough round for Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen (38-41 — 79), a typically solid player for the Ducks whose adjusted scoring average of 72.85 is third-best on the team.

The junior was already four-over after three holes thanks to a triple bogey on the par-3, 175-yard second hole, followed by a bogey on the par-4 third hole.

She played the next six holes at 1-under before opening the back half with a double bogey on the par-4 10th and bogeys on 11 and 13.

“I think No. 2 really hurt her and got in her head right away,” Radley said. “We’ll have a long chat about it, and tomorrow’s a new day. She’ll be ready to go.”

Tuesday’s second round begins at 9 a.m. for Oregon and Oregon State, weather permitting.

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Ducks struggle in opener of Pac-12 women's golf championships