No. 3 Ducks Head To Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Coming off a thrilling comeback win at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge, the No. 3 ranked Oregon women's golf team will return to action on Monday for the first of three rounds at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. The tournament is hosted by singer Darius Rucker, who will put on a private concert for the teams on Sunday night.

The Ducks will compete against a loaded 18-team field that features 11 other top-25 teams, with only No. 2 Wake Forest ranked higher than Oregon. This will be Oregon's first appearance at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, which is in its 11th year.

2023 Darius Rucker Intercollegiate
Dates: Monday, Feb. 27 - Wednesday, March 1
Location: Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Course: Long Cove Club
Par/Yards: 71/6,220
Format: Three rounds of stroke play, 18 holes each day

How To Follow
Live scoring for the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate will be available at Golfstat.com, and Golf Channel will broadcast the action live each day from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PT. Live updates will be provided throughout the tournament on Twitter at @OregonWGolf.

Live Scoring: https://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=27194

The Field
No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 South Carolina, No. 6 LSU, No. 8 Texas, No. 9 Baylor, No. 12 Arizona State, No. 13 Virginia, No. 15 Auburn, No. 19 Northwestern, No. 20 Vanderbilt, No. 23 Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Duke, Furman, Georgia, Howard

Teeing Off For The Ducks (Scoring Avg.)
1. Ching-Tzu Chen (73.38)
2. Briana Chacon (72.70)
3. Minori Nagano (74.67)
4. Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu (73.10)
5. Ashleigh Park (72.38)

Numbers To Know
3 - Oregon enters the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at No. 3 in the national Golfstat and WGCA rankings, second-highest in the Pac-12.
7 - The Ducks' win at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge was Oregon's seventh under HC Derek Radley, all since the spring of 2021.
8 - Junior Ashleigh Park leads the Ducks with eight rounds of par-or-better this season, including three rounds in the 60s.
236 - Senior Briana Chacon currently ranks 10th in program history with 236 career birdies, 10 away from No. 9.

Ducks Storm Back To Defend Title At Therese Hession Regional Challenge
Oregon claimed its first win of 2022-23 in thrilling fashion on Feb. 14, firing a stellar 4-under 280 to storm back and win the 2023 Therese Hession Regional Challenge by five strokes. The Ducks entered the final day in a tie for fourth at 1-over par, eight strokes behind No. 1 Stanford. UO made a whopping 20 birdies as a team in round three to overtake the Cardinal, which stumbled to a 9-over 293 on the final day. The Ducks repeated as the team champions at what was formerly known as the Northrop Grumman Challenge, after winning by seven strokes in 2022. Senior Ching-Tzu Chen led the Ducks throughout the week, finishing in a tie for second individually at 3-under par after closing with a 2-under 69. Chen matched her best career finish and came in behind only Rose Zhang (Stanford), the No. 1 ranked player in the world and reigning NCAA champion. Oregon's win was the program's seventh since the spring of 2021, including a program-record five tournament victories in 2021-22.

Tournament Wins Under HC Derek Radley
2022-23 (Spring) - Therese Hession Regional Challenge
2021-22 (Spring) - NCAA Albuquerque Regional
2021-22 (Spring) - Pac-12 Championships
2021-22 (Spring) - Northrop Grumman Challenge
2021-22 (Spring) - Florida State Match Up
2021-22 (Fall) - Mason Rudolph Championship
2020-21 (Spring) - PING/ASU Invitational

Park Leads Ducks With Stellar Fall
Oregon's fall season was headlined by the emergence of junior Ashleigh Park, who led the Ducks with a stellar 71.90 scoring average in four fall events. A transfer from Texas, Park placed in the top 20 of all four tournaments with three top-10 finishes, including a career-best runner-up showing at the Pac-12 Preview after shooting 8-under par (70-69-72). Entering the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, Park leads Oregon in scoring average (72.38), rounds of par-or-better (8), counting rounds (12) and birdies (42), and she is the highest Duck in the individual Golfstat rankings at No. 26.

Living In The Top Five
The Ducks enter the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate with an impressive history of top-five finishes under head coach Derek Radley. Oregon has placed in the top five in 34 of 42 tournaments since Radley and assistant coach Monica Vaughn took over ahead of the 2018-19 season, headlined by an impressive seven tournament victories. The Ducks posted top-five finishes in all 12 tournaments in 2021-22 - with a program-record five wins and three more runner-up showings - and have placed in the top five in each of their last four events in 2022-23 after opening the fall with a sixth-place finish.