Alice & John Wallace Classic Up Next For No. 5 Ducks

PALM DESERT, Calif. - The No. 5 ranked Oregon women's golf team will be back in action beginning on Saturday in the Alice & John Wallace Classic at Monterey Country Club.

Coming off a second-place finish at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge to kick off the spring season, the Ducks carry a terrific 40-11 competitive record for the season into this weekend's action.

Action will begin on Saturday with the first of three rounds of stroke play, teeing off at 8:30 a.m. PT with a shotgun start. The second round will take place on Sunday morning with the final round on Monday.

Oregon will run out its same five-player lineup from the spring opener, which consists of three sophomore and two freshmen. The Ducks will also have an individual in the field with sophomore Darae Chung making her spring debut.

The No. 5 Ducks will be one of two top-25 teams in the 20-team field, along with No. 3 USC.

2025 Alice & John Wallace Classic
Dates: Saturday, Feb. 15 - Monday, Feb. 17
Course: Monterey Country Club
Par/Yardage: Par 71/6,108 yards

The Field (20 Teams)
Boise State, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Hawai'i, Long Beach State, Nevada, New Mexico State, Oregon, Pepperdine, Portland State, San Jose State, Santa Clara, UC Davis, USC, Washington, Wyoming

How to Follow
Live scoring for the Alice & John Wallace Classic will be available on Scoreboard Live. Live updates will be provided on Twitter at @OregonWGolf.

Teeing Off for the Ducks (Scoring Avg.)
1. Kiara Romero (71.46)
2. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (72.31)
3. Tong An (74.00)
4. Ting-Hsuan Huang (73.50)
5. Karen Tsuru (75.08)
Ind. Darae Chung (73.00)

Historic Round Powers Ducks To Second-Place Finish
The Ducks got their spring season off to an impressive start earlier this month, using a tremendous final round to move up three spots and finish second in a loaded field at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge. Oregon fired an astounding 12-under 272 in the final round, the lowest total score in a round in program history and five strokes better than any team round for the tournament. The Ducks jumped past No. 3 South Carolina, No. 5 Texas and Florida to finish alone in second place at 4-under par, behind only No. 4 USC. Oregon was led by star sophomore Kiara Romero, who shot below par in all three rounds (70-69-68) to finish alone in second place with a 6-under 207, tied for the fifth-lowest 54-hole total ever by a Duck. The final-round surge was fueled by freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, who made nine birdies en route to breaking the Therese Hession Regional Challenge single-round scoring record with a 7-under 64. The freshman's stellar round tied for the second-lowest score in UO single-round history, and she moved up 35 spots on the leaderboard to tie for sixth overall. Sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang had the best round of her career as well on the final day with a 4-under 67, and freshman Tong An started the week with a 3-under 68 before tying for 15th overall at 2 over. In the final round, the trio of Vinijchaitham, Huang and Romero combined to shoot 14-under par with 17 total birdies.

Elite Duo
The Ducks are led by a pair of elite underclassmen at the top of their lineup in sophomore Kiara Romero and freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham. Both Ducks saw their standings rise on the World Amateur Golf Rankings following terrific spring openers, with Romero moving up five spots to No. 7 and Vinijchaitham going up seven spots to No. 22. Both Ducks are also moving up the collegiate Scoreboard individual rankings, with Romero up to No. 8 and Vinijchaitham at No. 21. Romero leads the Ducks this season with a 71.46 scoring average while posting nine par-or-better rounds in 13 tries, and she has placed second individually at both the Jackson T. Stephens Cup and the Therese Hession Regional Challenge. Vinijchaitham is right behind Romero with a 72.31 scoring average, shooting par-or-better in six of her first 13 collegiate rounds. Vinijchaitham already owns three top-10 finishes, including a third-place showing at the Windy City Classic in the fall.

If You're Good Enough, You're Old Enough
Romero and Vinijchaitham are not the only talented underclassmen shining for the Ducks, who will once again go into a tournament with all freshmen and sophomores in the lineup. Romero is joined by fellow sophomores Ting-Hsuan Huang and Karen Tsuru, who both helped the Ducks reach the national semifinals at the NCAA Championships last spring as true freshmen. Huang's terrific final round in the spring opener was a welcome sight after she was limited in the fall with an injury, while Tsuru impressed early in the fall with a 3-under par performance at the Annika Intercollegiate. Vinijchaitham is joined by fellow freshman Tong An, who placed fourth in stroke play at the Stephens Cup with a 2-under 68 in the final round and got the Therese Hession Regional Challenge started with a 3-under 68 and an even-par 71. Sophomore Darae Chung will make her spring debut this weekend as an individual, after tying for sixth overall in stroke play at the Stephens Cup in the fall.

Ducks Impress At Stephens Cup
Competing in a format very similar to the national championships, the Ducks showed they are once again a force to be reckoned with at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup during the fall. After holding a one-stroke lead through 36 holes, Oregon dominated the final round of stroke play with a stellar 1-over 281 to finish in first place by a whopping 14 strokes. Kiara Romero led the Ducks once again, shooting even par across three rounds to place second overall. Freshman Tong An was terrific in the final round with a 2-under 68 to move up and place fourth overall, and sophomore Darae Chung impressed in her Oregon debut with a trio of 3-over 73s to tie for sixth place. The Ducks earned the No. 1 seed in the match-play championships, where they would face off with top-ranked Arkansas. Oregon got a pair of wins from Chung and sophomore Karen Tsuru, and Arkansas answered with a pair of wins to bring the match down to Romero in the final pairing. Romero was in a battle all day long and had a 2 up lead late in the round, but the Razorbacks' Natalie Blonien made a comeback and was able to sink a long birdie putt on No. 18 to secure the match.

Romero Leads Ducks As True Sophomore
Kiara Romero put together one of the greatest seasons in program history in 2023-24 as a true freshman, becoming the first Duck ever to be named the WGCA Freshman of the Year while becoming just the second Duck to earn WGCA first-team all-America honors. Romero shattered the Oregon single-season record with a stellar 70.84 scoring average across 31 rounds of stroke play, and also broke the program record for birdies in a season with 118. She became the first Duck ever to shoot under par across a 72-hole tournament while leading Oregon into match play of the NCAA Championships, tying for sixth overall in stroke play at 4-under par. She captured two individual wins earlier in the season - including at the ANNIKA Intercollegaite in her collegiate debut - to become just the seventh Duck and third UO freshman to win multiple tournaments in a season. In 10 stroke play tournaments, Romero racked up nine top-20 finishes and six top-10 showings, and she shot par-or-better in 24 of 31 rounds. Romero was selected as a Golf Channel preseason first-team all-American entering her sophomore year while also landing on the preseason watch list for the Annika Award for the second year in a row, and she has catapulted up to No. 7 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. In 44 career rounds of stroke play as a Duck, Romero has produced 33 rounds of par-or-better with 12 sub-70 performances while recording nine top-10 finishes, and she has already recorded 164 career birdies.

University of Oregon Athletics

Alice & John Wallace Classic Up Next For No. 5 Ducks

Players Mentioned

Tong An

Darae Chung

Ting-Hsuan Huang

Kiara Romero

Karen Tsuru

Suvichaya Vinijchaitham

Related Videos