University of Oregon
Alice & John Wallace Classic
Ducks, Vinijchaitham Make History In Dominant Victory
02/17/25 | Women's Golf
PALM DESERT, Calif. - The Oregon women's golf team ran away with the team title at the Alice & John Wallace Classic on Monday, winning by 23 strokes while breaking multiple program records at Monterey Country Club. Freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham claimed the individual title on the strength of a tremendous final round, with Kiara Romero tying for second and Karen Tsuru finishing in fourth.
It was a historic week for the No. 5 Ducks, who broke the program record for total score and total score vs. par in a 54-hole tournament with a 34-under 818 across the three rounds. Oregon capped its dominant tournament with an 18-under 266 on Monday, six strokes better than the previous program record for the lowest team score in a round - set earlier this month in the final round of the Therese Hession Regional Challenge.
Oregon secured the 39th tournament win in program history, and ninth since head coach Derek Radley took over ahead of the 2018-19 season.
"Just an unbelievable effort by our entire team this week," head coach Derek Radley said. "This is a really difficult game so to be that dominant three days in a row is really impressive, especially with all underclassmen in the lineup. It's awesome to get the win and it's really great to see everyone contribute. This is a huge confidence boost for our team and I can't wait to see how we use this to fuel us as we move forward in the spring."
All four counting scorers shot in the 60s for the Ducks in the final round, led by a 7-under 64 by Vinijchaitham as she beat out Romero and USC's Catherine Park for the individual title at 12-under par. Romero and Tsuru both closed the tournament with a 7-under 64, as Romero tied for second at 10 under and Tsuru placed fourth at 9 under. Ting-Hsuan Huang added a 3-under 68 to move up 10 spots and tie for eighth overall at 2 under, giving the Ducks four players in the individual top 10.
Vinijchaitham's 12-under 201 is the second-lowest 54-hole total in program history, while Romero (203) tied for the third-lowest and Tsuru (204) tied for fifth-lowest. Vinijchaitham's 7-under 64 also tied for the second-lowest individual round in program history, matching the 7-under 64 she fired in the final round of the Therese Hession Regional Challenge earlier this month. The 7-under 64 also set a new course record at Monterey Country Club, matched on Monday by Park from USC.
"Awesome to see Suvichaya get her first collegiate win," Radley said. "She has so much natural talent and has really put in the work this season, and it's shown through our first two spring tournaments. It was really cool to see her, Kiara and Karen battling for the individual title down the stretch. To finish with three players in the top four and four in the top 10 is a testament to the depth of this team, which is going to be really important for us as we get deeper in the season."
How it Happened: After shooting an 8-under 276 in each of the first two rounds to build a 12-stroke lead, the Ducks improved upon that by 10 strokes to shatter the program's single-round scoring record. Oregon's three rounds were the three lowest team scores of the week, and all three placed in the top five in program history.
The final round began with Romero leading the individual race at 6 under, and both Vinijchaitham and Tsuru one stroke back at 5 under. All three Ducks came out firing, setting the stage for a race to the finish for the individual title.
Vinijchaitham got off to a tremendous start, making birdie on her first three holes and five of her first six to quickly get to 5 under. Romero answered with four consecutive birdies, and Tsuru added three of her own on the front nine. At the turn, Vinijchaitham had pulled even with Romero at 10 under, with Tsuru sitting at 7 under.
After making her lone bogey of the day at No. 9, Vinijchaitham was perfect on the back nine with three more birdies. She and Romero remained tied after both players birdied No. 15, but Romero fell a stroke back with a bogey on No. 16. Vinijchaitham sealed her first collegiate win with a birdie on No. 18, while Romero finished with back-to-back pars.
Tsuru was 4 under across her final 14 holes to match Romero with a 4-under 67, the low round of her career. The Ducks were on pace to finish 1-2-3 in the individual standings before Park holed out for an eagle on No. 18 to pass Tsuru and finish tied with Romero for second.
Huang matched the low round of her career with a 4-under 67, tying the mark she set in the final round of the spring opener. The sophomore was even through her first three holes before shooting 3 under across her final 15, including birdies on two of her final three holes.
Oregon's four counting scorers combined to make 23 birdies against just five bogeys on Monday, led by eight from Vinijchaitham and six from Romero.
Team Leaderboard (top five):
1. Oregon - 276-276-266 — 818 (-34)
2. USC - 283-281-277 — 841 (-11)
3. Pepperdine - 290-287-286 — 863 (+11)
4. Cal State Fullerton - 291-287-291 — 868 (+16)
T5. San Jose State - 286-288-299 — 873 (+21)
T5. Washington - 290-286-297 — 873 (+21)
Ducks on the Leaderboard:
1. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham - 68-69-64 — 201 (-12)
T2. Kiara Romero - 68-68-67 — 203 (-10)
4. Karen Tsuru - 68-69-67 — 204 (-9)
T8. Ting-Hsuan Huang - 73-70-68 — 211 (-2)
T36. Tong An - 72-71-78 — 221 (+8)
T50. Darae Chung (Ind.) - 75-73-75 — 224 (+11)
Notable: Vinijchaitham secured the 41st individual tournament win in program history, and first by a Duck this season ... Oregon was the top team in the field on par 4s (-16) and par 5s (-11), and ranked second on par 3s (+2) ... The Ducks led the field with 61 total birdies while ranking fourth with 176 pars ... Romero led the field in par 3 (-3) and par 5 (-6) scoring, and Vinijchaitham tied for the lead on par 4 scoring (-9) ... Vinijchaitham led all players with 16 total birdies, with Romero tied for second (15) and Tsuru tied for fifth (13) ... Romero has now shot sub-70 in five straight rounds, while Vinijchaitham has done so in four consecutive rounds ... Romero now owns 15 career sub-70 rounds and has shot par-or-better in 36 of 47 career rounds ... Vinijchaitham has shot sub-70 five times and par-or-better nine times in her first 16 collegiate rounds.
Up Next: The Ducks will return to action on March 3-4 at the Juli Inkster Invitational in Fairfax, Calif.
Players Mentioned
