Off to Tucson for Pac-12 Championships

EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon women's golf team heads to Tucson, Ariz., this week to compete against some of the top talent in the country at the Pac-12 Championships. Oregon opens its post-season play after a sixth-place finish at the Silverado Showdown that saw that Ducks play very well down the stretch. The Ducks will try to secure their spot in an NCAA Regional with a strong showing at the Pac-12s in a field that features six teams ranked in the top 25 and four in the top 10.

FORMAT
The tournament will be played over three days, running from Monday to Wednesday, with one round each day for a total of 54 holes of stroke play at Sewailo Golf Course (Par 72 - 6,283 Yards). Oregon is set to begin teeing off between 8:40 and 9:12 a.m. in the first round on Monday, grouped with USC and Oregon State. Tee times for Tuesday and Wednesday will be determined later.

THE FIELD
Oregon, ranked 46th in the nation in the latest Golfstat rankings (April 18), will be joined by the 10 other Pac-12 teams over the three-day tournament in Tucson. Always a conference to be reckoned with, the Pac-12 is just as formidable as usual this season. No. 2 Stanford enters as the top team, followed closely by No. 3 UCLA and No. 5 Arizona State. No. 7 USC rounds out the Pac-12 in the top 10. No. 14 Arizona and No. 21 Colorado round out the top 25 for the conference. California, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State complete the field.

COMPETING DUCKS
No. 1 - Cathleen Santoso
No. 2 - Kathleen Scavo
No. 3 - Kelsey Ulep
No. 4 - Marcella Pranovia
No. 5 - Petra Salko

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Ducks enter this year's Pac-12 Championships looking for their first-ever conference tournament title. Oregon took eighth last season after a second-place finish in 2015, in which Caroline Inglis took home the first individual conference title in program history. The Ducks have finished in the top five in the tournament eight times, and has placed in the top three twice. Last season, Cathleen Santoso finished tied with Inglis as the top Duck in the field in a tie for 12th. USC enters the tournament as the defending champion after winning last season with the lowest 56-hole team total in Pac-10/12 Championship history (846).

SANTOSO LEADS DUCKS AT SILVERADO SHOWDOWN
Senior Cathleen Santoso enjoyed a sterling finish to the Silverado Showdown two weeks ago in Napa, Calif., firing a 6-under 66 in the final round to finish the tournament in a season-best tied for fourth at 5-under (75-70-66—211). Sophomore Kathleen Scavo also played well across the three rounds, placing in a tie for 21st at 2-over (69-79-70—218). Marcella Pranovia was the third Duck on the board at 5-over (74-73-74—221, T38), Kelsey Ulep finished tied for 49th at 8-over (72-78-74—224), and Petra Salko finished at 17-over (75-78-80—233, T76) to close out things for the Ducks.

DUCKS 13TH AT BRYAN NATIONAL COLLEGIATE
Oregon traveled to Browns Summit, N.C., last weekend to compete in the Bryan National Collegiate, and came away with a 13th-place finish at +50. Cathleen Santoso was the Ducks' leader at +10 (74-74-78--226, T46), while Kathleen Scavo finished two strokes behind while carding the low round of the weekend for Oregon (79-70-79--228, T49). Marcella Pranovia (80-76-75--231, +15, T57), Petra Salko (80-74-78--232, +16, T59) and Kelsey Ulep (79-77-77--233, +17, T65) rounded out the Oregon lineup.

DUCKS PLAY GIFFORD GREAT 8
The Ducks traveled to Los Angeles, Calif., two weeks ago to compete with some of the nation's top teams at the Gifford Great 8 Collegiate Match Play. Despite going 0-3 on the tournament, Oregon gained match play experience that could prove valuable come postseason play. The Ducks opened the day with pair of 4-1 losses to two top-10 teams in then-No. 9 UCLA and then-No. 8 Georgia before closing out the tournament against Oregon State in a Civil War match. Oregon played tough with the Beavers and finished tied, 2.5-2.5, but OSU was awarded the win based on the first tiebreaker of most holes won.

SALKO LEADS UO AT ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL
Playing at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate in New Orleans, Petra Salko led the Ducks with productive showings in all three rounds, finishing the tournament tied for 22nd overall at 4-over (73, 74, 73 - 220). Kathleen Scavo finished tied for 28th, highlight by a 1-under 71 in the second round, at 7-over (76, 71, 76 - 223). Cathleen Santoso tied for 41st on the individual leaderboard at 10-over (75, 75, 76 - 226). Amy Matsuoka bounced back from a 6-over 78 in the second round to finish strong at 11-over (74, 78, 75 - 227), and Kelsey Ulep rounded out the Oregon lineup at 18-over (77, 80, 77 - 234).

STRONG SHOWING IN SPRING OPENER
Opening their spring season at the Peg Barnard Invitational at Stanford Golf Course, the Ducks got off to a good start with a second-place finish to top-ranked Stanford after finishing 14-over as a team (292, 289 – 581, +14). Junior Kelsey Ulep, playing in her first event of the academic year after not competing in the fall, led the Ducks with her best-career finish (2nd) while finishing as one of only two players under par at 2-under. Sophomore Petra Salko finished tied for 10th at 5-over along with Kathleen Scavo after firing an even-par 71 in the final round, and Amy Matsuoka (T15, +6) and Cathleen Santoso (T24, +8) rounded out the Oregon lineup.

SOLID FALL SEASON
The Ducks enjoyed a strong showing in the fall season, finishing with a team scoring average of 299.57 after competing in five tournaments. Oregon opened the fall with a third-place finish at the Red Raider Invitational before taking second at the East-West Match Play Challenge, and the Ducks finished the fall with a fourth-place finish at the Nanea Pac-12 Preview. Sophomore Kathleen Scavo led the Ducks in the fall with a 74.71 scoring average after a career-best finish at Nanea (T4th), and senior Cathleen Santoso was right behind at 74.79. Amy Matsuoka (75.79), Brooke Hamilton (76.14) and Petra Salko (77.43) rounded out the Duck lineup while competing in all five tournaments.

DUCKS STRIVING TO #BETHESTANDARD
Head coach Ria Scott introduced a new motto to the 2017 team prior to the start of spring, #BeTheStandard. The slogan was created in hopes of inspiring the Ducks to set and be the standard in everything they do, whether it's on the golf course, in the classroom or in the community.