Monday, May 7
San Francisco, CA
All Day
University of Oregon
at
NCAA Regionals
After Overcoming Long Odds, Ducks Ready For Postseason Run
05/06/18 | Women's Golf, @GoDucksMoseley
The Oregon women's golf team opens NCAA Regional play on Monday after a tough regular season that has the Ducks battle-hardened.
Just two short years ago, the Oregon women's golf team was celebrating a trip to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship tournament at Eugene Country Club.
The Ducks' lineup in 2016 featured two freshmen, Kathleen Scavo and Petra Salko. Afterward, UO coach Ria Scott recalled, the freshmen considered that the benchmark for the rest of their careers.
"Kathleen was like, 'That was awesome; let's do that again!'" Scott said.
Sure enough, Scavo and Salko helped the Ducks get back to the NCAA Championship event as sophomores in 2017. This week, they'll have the chance to make it three in a row — but they enter the start of NCAA Regional play Monday in San Francisco with a deeper respect for the challenge that is qualifying for nationals.
"This year was hard," said Scott, whose team opens three rounds of stroke play in the San Francisco Regional on Monday at TPC Harding Park. "We certainly aren't taking this regional bid for granted."
The Oregon women reached the postseason despite long odds. They played in the fall with a four-player roster, which only expanded to five when freshman Madi Daniel enrolled for winter quarter in January. The team's only senior, Kelsey Ulep, has been sidelined by injury most of the year, and the Ducks were ranked as low as No. 74 in the country at one point this winter, Scott said.
The top six teams from the regional round will advance to the NCAA Championships later this month in Stillwater, Okla. Oregon enters the 17-team regional seeded 14th.
All of that said, few expected the Ducks to reach the NCAA quarterfinals in 2016. And a year ago, Oregon was the 12th seed before finishing third at the Lubbock Regional.
"We start from a clean slate," Salko said. "I definitely don't feel any less confident than the last couple years."
The Ducks are fueled by confidence from their postseason play the last two years, and also resolve hardened by the experience of the last few months. Needing to rocket up the national rankings just to have a shot at regionals, Oregon was tasked with doing so not only with a small, young roster, but against a schedule ranked among the 15 or 20 toughest in the country.
Rising through the rankings required incremental progress, embracing small but significant steps. Victory in any given week might mean knocking off a couple of top-40 teams, rather than challenging for a tournament title. The big picture was so daunting, the Ducks found it easy to narrow their focus to the next round, the next hole, the next shot.
It's that same mentality that could allow them to upset the form chart and advance from regionals this week.
"I've seen that it doesn't take a miracle," Salko said. "It's top-six; we've placed top-six. Not all of us have to play out of our minds. And if we make it to nationals, nobody is going to ask, 'what was your ranking early in the season?' It's whatever at that point. This is what matters."
The low point for the Ducks in 2018 came on Feb. 25, during the 36-hole opening day of the Westbrook Invitational in Arizona. The UO women were 15 over after the opening round, in last place.
"We played terrible — on a scoreable golf course," Scott said.
Between rounds, Scott and assistant Laura Cilek delivered a simple message: Wake up. It registered. The Ducks rallied to shoot 10 under in the second round. With that as a springboard, Oregon enjoyed top-10 finishes in both its March events, tied for 10th in a tough field at Silverado in Napa, Calif., to open April, then tied for eighth in the loaded Pac-12 Conference Tournament field.
Along the way, the Ducks learned that their roster, while short on numbers, didn't lack for depth. Scavo was the team's low scorer at the Westbrook Invitational, Salko led them two weeks later in Florida, freshman Alexis Phandungmartvorakul was the top UO individual at Silverado and sophomore Amy Matsuoka led the way at Pac-12s.
The Ducks may not have reserves to challenge them for roster spots in practice. But Phandungmartvorakul said the five starters are more than competitive enough with each other during the week to keep themselves sharp. Now, the Ducks are looking to have all five clicking at the same time.
"Their best golf? Laura and I firmly believe we haven't seen it yet," Scott said.
After scratching and clawing their way back into postseason contention, the Ducks did allow themselves to exhale and celebrate seeing their name in the field on Selection Sunday, following the Pac-12 Championships. But that was only a momentary pause.
"Madi Daniel, she's so pumped up and so excited, she hasn't take a day off since before Pac-12s," Scott said with amazement.
For as long as the odds were for Oregon to make the postseason, earlier this spring, the Ducks believe they belong. The moment Oregon's name popped up on the broadcast of Selection Sunday, Scavo declared, "We're the best postseason team in the country."
She didn't mean the Ducks are guaranteed to outplay the rest of the teams that made the postseason. She did mean that nobody can sharpen its focus and raise its level of play quite like Oregon.
Beginning Monday, they have another chance to go out and prove it.
The Ducks' lineup in 2016 featured two freshmen, Kathleen Scavo and Petra Salko. Afterward, UO coach Ria Scott recalled, the freshmen considered that the benchmark for the rest of their careers.
"Kathleen was like, 'That was awesome; let's do that again!'" Scott said.
Sure enough, Scavo and Salko helped the Ducks get back to the NCAA Championship event as sophomores in 2017. This week, they'll have the chance to make it three in a row — but they enter the start of NCAA Regional play Monday in San Francisco with a deeper respect for the challenge that is qualifying for nationals.
"This year was hard," said Scott, whose team opens three rounds of stroke play in the San Francisco Regional on Monday at TPC Harding Park. "We certainly aren't taking this regional bid for granted."
The Oregon women reached the postseason despite long odds. They played in the fall with a four-player roster, which only expanded to five when freshman Madi Daniel enrolled for winter quarter in January. The team's only senior, Kelsey Ulep, has been sidelined by injury most of the year, and the Ducks were ranked as low as No. 74 in the country at one point this winter, Scott said.
The top six teams from the regional round will advance to the NCAA Championships later this month in Stillwater, Okla. Oregon enters the 17-team regional seeded 14th.
All of that said, few expected the Ducks to reach the NCAA quarterfinals in 2016. And a year ago, Oregon was the 12th seed before finishing third at the Lubbock Regional.
"We start from a clean slate," Salko said. "I definitely don't feel any less confident than the last couple years."
The Ducks are fueled by confidence from their postseason play the last two years, and also resolve hardened by the experience of the last few months. Needing to rocket up the national rankings just to have a shot at regionals, Oregon was tasked with doing so not only with a small, young roster, but against a schedule ranked among the 15 or 20 toughest in the country.
Rising through the rankings required incremental progress, embracing small but significant steps. Victory in any given week might mean knocking off a couple of top-40 teams, rather than challenging for a tournament title. The big picture was so daunting, the Ducks found it easy to narrow their focus to the next round, the next hole, the next shot.
It's that same mentality that could allow them to upset the form chart and advance from regionals this week.
"I've seen that it doesn't take a miracle," Salko said. "It's top-six; we've placed top-six. Not all of us have to play out of our minds. And if we make it to nationals, nobody is going to ask, 'what was your ranking early in the season?' It's whatever at that point. This is what matters."
The low point for the Ducks in 2018 came on Feb. 25, during the 36-hole opening day of the Westbrook Invitational in Arizona. The UO women were 15 over after the opening round, in last place.
"We played terrible — on a scoreable golf course," Scott said.
Between rounds, Scott and assistant Laura Cilek delivered a simple message: Wake up. It registered. The Ducks rallied to shoot 10 under in the second round. With that as a springboard, Oregon enjoyed top-10 finishes in both its March events, tied for 10th in a tough field at Silverado in Napa, Calif., to open April, then tied for eighth in the loaded Pac-12 Conference Tournament field.
Along the way, the Ducks learned that their roster, while short on numbers, didn't lack for depth. Scavo was the team's low scorer at the Westbrook Invitational, Salko led them two weeks later in Florida, freshman Alexis Phandungmartvorakul was the top UO individual at Silverado and sophomore Amy Matsuoka led the way at Pac-12s.
The Ducks may not have reserves to challenge them for roster spots in practice. But Phandungmartvorakul said the five starters are more than competitive enough with each other during the week to keep themselves sharp. Now, the Ducks are looking to have all five clicking at the same time.
"Their best golf? Laura and I firmly believe we haven't seen it yet," Scott said.
After scratching and clawing their way back into postseason contention, the Ducks did allow themselves to exhale and celebrate seeing their name in the field on Selection Sunday, following the Pac-12 Championships. But that was only a momentary pause.
"Madi Daniel, she's so pumped up and so excited, she hasn't take a day off since before Pac-12s," Scott said with amazement.
For as long as the odds were for Oregon to make the postseason, earlier this spring, the Ducks believe they belong. The moment Oregon's name popped up on the broadcast of Selection Sunday, Scavo declared, "We're the best postseason team in the country."
She didn't mean the Ducks are guaranteed to outplay the rest of the teams that made the postseason. She did mean that nobody can sharpen its focus and raise its level of play quite like Oregon.
Beginning Monday, they have another chance to go out and prove it.
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