No. 5 Ducks Return To Action Friday In Phoenix

PHOENIX - The Oregon women's golf team returns from a three-week layoff at the PING/ASU Invitational beginning on Friday at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix. Oregon will get an early look at Papago Golf Club, which will play host to the 2023 Pac-12 Championships on April 17-19.

The No. 5 Ducks are the highest-ranked team in a 17-team field that features seven other top-25 programs, including No. 6 Mississippi State and No. 8 Texas.

2023 PING/ASU Invitational
Dates: Friday, March 24 - Sunday, March 26
Location: Phoenix, Ariz.
Course: Papago Golf Club
Par/Yards: 72/6,543
Format: Three rounds of stroke play, 18 holes each day

How To Follow
Live scoring for the PING/ASU Invitational will be available at Golfstat.com. 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=27026

The Field (17 Teams)
No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 8 Texas, No. 11 Arizona State, No. 13 USC, No. 14 Baylor, No. 15 Arizona, No. 23 Northwestern, California, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State, New Mexico, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State.

Teeing Off For The Ducks (Scoring Avg.)
1. Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu (72.92)
2. Briana Chacon (72.92)
3. Ching-Tzu Chen (74.19)
4. Brittany Shin (73.86)
5. Anika Varma (73.67)
Ind. Minori Nagano (75.08)

Numbers To Know
-9 - Oregon shot a stellar 9-under 279 in the final round of the 2021 PING ASU Invitational, earning the program's first win since 2016.
7 - The Ducks' win at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge was Oregon's seventh under HC Derek Radley, all since the spring of 2021.
67 - JJunior Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu closed the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate with a stellar 4-under 67, tying the best individual round of the event.
240 - Senior Briana Chacon currently ranks 10th in program history with 240 career birdies, just six away from No. 9.

Familiar Territory
Oregon will be making its 26th appearance at the PING/ASU Invitational and is looking to continue its recent run of success at the event. The Ducks fired a tremendous 9-under 279 in the final round of the 2021 PING/ASU Invitational to storm back and tie for first, earning the program's first tournament victory since 2016. Oregon followed up that performance with a runner-up showing last spring, when Briana Chacon led the squad in a tie for fifth overall at 5-under par. In 25 previous appearances, Oregon has placed in the top five four times.

Chacon, Lu Set To Return To Augusta National Women's Amateur
Briana Chacon and Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu will head to Augusta, Ga., straight from Phoenix to compete in the Augusta National Women's Amateur next week after receiving official invites for the second year in a row. The pair played in the first two rounds of last year's event at Champions Retreat Golf Club, and had the opportunity to play a practice round at arguably the most famous golf course in the world: Augusta National Golf Club. Both Ducks will be looking for redemption from last year as they aim to make the cut and compete in the final round at Augusta National on Saturday, April 1. Chacon and Lu are two of the 72 top amateurs invited to compete in the event.

Chen To Compete at LA Open
While Chacon and Lu will head to Augusta following the PING/ASU Invitational, senior Ching-Tzu Chen will fly to Palos Verdes, Calif., to compete in the LPGA's DIO Implant LA Open. Chen earned a sponsor exemption for the event after tying for second at the Therese Hession Regional Chellenge earlier in the spring. Chen matched her best career finish while shooting 3-under par, coming in behind only Rose Zhang (Stanford), the No. 1 ranked player in the world and reigning NCAA individual champion.