No. 2 Oregon Finishes Second At PING/ASU Invitational

Sunday, March 27

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University of Oregon

PING/ASU Invitational

No. 2 Oregon Finishes Second At PING/ASU Invitational

03/27/22 | Women's Golf

Final Results Online Results

By: Nate Krueger

PHOENIX – The Oregon women's golf team carded its best round of the weekend and the low round of the day on Sunday to finish alone in second place at the PING/ASU Invitational.

The No. 2 Ducks fired a 6-under 282 in the final round of the three-day tournament, placing second at 10-under par for the weekend. Oregon finished above six teams ranked in the top 25, including eight strokes ahead of No. 1 Stanford. No. 8 Arizona State won the tournament on its home course at 25-under par.

Oregon continued to get contributions from the entire lineup, with four Ducks finishing in the individual top 20. Briana Chacon earned her best finish of the season in a tie for fifth overall, and Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen earned her fourth straight top-10 performance in a tie for eighth.

"Proud of our team for putting together another good tournament," head coach Derek Radley said. "We went up against another really good field and finished ahead of some of the very best teams in the nation. I like where we're at right now, but we need to continue to work hard and focus on getting better every day as postseason gets closer and closer."

The Ducks recorded their eighth top-five finish in eight tournaments this season, and now have 20 top-five showings in their last 22 events dating back to 2019-20. Since Radley and assistant coach Monica Vaughn took over ahead of the 2018-19 season, Oregon has placed in the top five in 26 of 33 total tournaments.

How it Happened: Nielsen was Oregon's top performer for the second day in a row, firing her second straight 3-under 69. The junior started her day with a double bogey but immediately buckled down to play flawless golf the rest of the way, making five birdies and 12 pars for her third sub-70 performance of the season.

Chacon finished the weekend with a 2-under 70 to earn the fifth top-five showing of her career and place in the top 10 for a third straight tournament. Chacon was 2 under through 12 holes before making a triple bogey at No. 13, but she bounced back with three birdies in her final four holes.

Chacon tied for fifth overall at 5-under par, with Nielsen one stroke back in a tie for eighth at 4 under. Arizona State's Alexandra Forsterling won the individual title at 9 under.

Senior Tze-Han (Heather) Lin also went low for the Ducks on Sunday, making four birdies for a 1-under 71. Lin finished the weekend in a tie for 15th at 1-under par, earning her team-best seventh top-20 showing of the season.

Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu capped a very consistent weekend with her third straight even-par 72 in the final round, tying for 19th place at even par overall. Lu has now shot par or better in seven straight rounds.

Ching-Tzu Chen carded a second straight 1-over 73 to finish out the lineup for the Ducks.

Team Leaderboard:
1. #8 Arizona State – 280-275-284 – 839 (-25)
2. #2 Oregon – 286-286-282 – 854 (-10)
T3. #1 Stanford – 285-289-288 – 862 (-2)
T3. #19 Baylor – 286-286-290 – 862 (-2)
T5. Northwestern – 286-290-287 – 863 (-1)
T5. #15 UCLA – 291-289-283 – 863 (-1)

Ducks on the Leaderboard:
T5. Briana Chacon – 69-72-70 – 211 (-5)
T8. Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen – 74-69-69 – 212 (-4)
T15. Tze-Han (Heather) Lin – 71-73-71 – 215 (-1)
T19. Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu – 72-72-72 – 216 (E)
T43. Ching-Tzu Chen – 75-73-73 – 221 (+5)

Notable: The Ducks have now shot par or better in five straight rounds, and 12 times in 24 total rounds this season … Oregon carded 188 total pars as a team, tied with Baylor for the most in the field … The Ducks tied with UCLA for the best team on par-3 hoels at 3 over, and they were second-best behind ASU on par-5 holes at 19 under … Chacon was the best player in the field on par-3s at 3-under par … Chacon led Oregon with 12 total birdies this weekend, while Nielsen was one behind with 11 … The No. 2 Ducks finished ahead of No. 1 Stanfor for the first time in five tournaements this season.

Up Next: Oregon's next team tournament will be the Silverado Showdown on April 4-6, the Ducks' final event before postseason begins with the Pac-12 Championships on April 18-20 at Eugene Country Club.

Prior to the Silverado Showdown, Radley will travel with Chacon and Lu as the duo prepares to compete in the prestigious Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship next weekend.