University of Oregon
NCAA Regionals
Hungry Ducks Take Valuable Experience into NCAA Regionals
05/06/17 | Women's Golf
PLAYING IN ITS TENTH STRAIGHT NCAA REGIONAL STARTING MONDAY IN LUBBOCK, TEXAS, THE DUCKS BOAST A LINEUP WITH FOUR PLAYERS WHO PLAYED IN THE ELITE EIGHT LAST SEASON
Starting on Monday, the Oregon women's golf team will be in Lubbock, Texas, to play in its 10th straight NCAA Regional.
That, in itself, is a tremendous accomplishment for a program that been on a steady rise since Ria Scott, now in her eighth season, took over as head coach.
But for Scott and the Ducks, who endured an up-and-down regular season, they are focused on putting together a complete tournament as a team to advance to their second straight NCAA Championships.
"We're absolutely looking for that peak performance this season," said Scott. "I think Silverado was a lot closer, but we are definitely kind of looking to put all the pieces together as a team."
The Ducks will need to finish in the top six in the 54-hole regional at The Rawls Course in Lubbock to move on to the NCAA Championships (May 20-24) in Sugar Grove, Ill., and they will need to do so in a field that features No. 2 ranked UCLA, No. 7 Arizona State and six other schools ranked in the Golfstat top 30.
Playing in a loaded Pac-12 Conference, including a ninth-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships two weeks ago, the Ducks are accustomed to going head-to-head with some of the best talent in the country.
"The field at Pac-12s was as strong or stronger than a regional field," said Scott. "Learning in the wind and the dry conditions there in Tucson will definitely help us in Lubbock. The girls have a really good idea of what they're preparing for."
The Ducks will also have the advantage of having played The Rawls Course this 2016-17 season. Oregon opened its fall schedule there in September with a third-place finish at the Red Raider Invitational, and is the only team in the field other than host Texas Tech to have played there in the fall.
"We performed pretty well in Lubbock in September," said senior Cathleen Santoso, "and I believe our experience there will be a significant advantage for us in terms of greater course knowledge and management skills."
The experience in Lubbock is valuable, to be sure, but perhaps of even greater importance for Scott and the Ducks is their postseason experience after placing tied for fifth at the NCAA Championships last season in Eugene, the best finish in program history.
"Everybody in the lineup has been a part of regional teams before," said Scott. "The experience on this lineup, you cannot buy. We've got four people in this lineup that were in the Elite Eight last season."
Those four who competed in last year's NCAA Championships at Eugene Country Club are Santoso, Kathleen Scavo, Petra Salko and Marcella Pranovia. The fifth Duck in Oregon's lineup for the regional, junior Kelsey Ulep, competed with the Ducks in an NCAA Regional two years ago and shot a pair of 69s in her first two rounds.
"I had to remind Kelsey the other day that she really played awesome in San Antonio, because it's been so long ago," said Scott. "She's so good in the wind, and that will be valuable in Lubbock."
The Ducks take that experience up and down the lineup into Lubbock, where Santoso says she and Oregon have "nothing to prove, but everything to gain."
I'm going to give it everything I have, and I know my teammates will too," said Santoso. "We're just going to go out there and have fun and trust in the process."
Players Mentioned
