Ducks Open Big Ten Championships Friday In Maryland

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. - Postseason play begins on Friday for the Oregon women's golf team as the No. 5 Ducks open the 2025 Big Ten Championships at Bulle Rock Golf Course.

The Ducks enter their first Big Ten Championships as the league's highest-ranked team and as one of three top-10 teams along with No. 7 USC and No. 10 Northwestern. No. 14 Ohio State and No. 24 Michigan State give the conference five total teams in the national top 25.

Oregon placed in the top five in all nine of its regular-season tournaments, including a win at the Alice & John Wallace Classic and four runner-up finishes. The Ducks carry a competitive record of 96-17-0 on the season into the conference championships, including a stellar 69-7-0 mark in the spring.

The Ducks will be paired with USC and Northwestern in Friday's opening round, teeing off of hole No. 1 beginning at 7:10 a.m. PT.

2025 Big Ten Championships
Dates: Friday, April 18 - Sunday, April 20
Course: Bulle Rock Golf Course
Par/Yardage: Par 72/6,235 yards
Format: Three rounds of stroke play; 18 holes each day

The Field (18 Teams)
#5 Oregon, #7 USC, #10 Northwestern, #14 Ohio State, #24 Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin

How to Follow
Live scoring for the Big Ten Championships will be available on Scoreboard Live, and live updates will be provided on Twitter at @OregonWGolf. Big Ten Network will have live coverage of Sunday's final round from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. PT.

Teeing Off for the Ducks (Scoring Avg.)
1. Kiara Romero (70.23)
2. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (71.44)
3. Karen Tsuru (72.32)
4. Tong An (73.88)
5. Ting-Hsuan Huang (73.33)
Alt. Darae Chung (74.11)

Conference Championship History
Oregon will make its first ever appearance at the Big Ten Championships this week, but the Ducks boast a strong track record at conference championships under head coach Derek Radley. UO won the first conference title in program history in 2022, coming from behind to win the Pac-12 Championship on its home course at Eugene Country Club. The Ducks then placed second at the Pac-12 Championships in 2023 before finishing third in the conference tournament last year, the program's final season in the Pac-12.

Big Three Leads The Way
The trio of Kiara Romero, Suvichaya Vinijchaitham and Karen Tsuru has proven to be one of the best in the nation so far in 2024-25. Vinijchaitham and Tsuru have each earned individual wins this spring, while Romero has three runner-up finishes as a sophomore. A WGCA first-team all-American as a freshman in 2023-24, Romero has risen all the way up to No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings while Vinijchaitham is up to No. 24 as a true freshman. Tsuru, also a sophomore, has had a remarkable rise in the world rankings, moving up 1,486 spots since she arrived in Eugene in the fall of 2023 to No. 43. Romero leads the Ducks with a 70.23 scoring average this season and is followed closeley by Vinijchaitham at 71.44 and Tsuru at 72.32. Romero and Vinijchaitham both own five top-10 finishes, and Tsuru is close behind with four. Oregon's talented trio headlines a five-player lineup of all underclassmen, with sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang and freshman Tong An rounding out the group. Huang and An both own top-10 finishes of their own this season, solidifying Oregon's lineup as one of the most exciting in the nation as the postseason approaches.

Ducks Close Regular Season With Top-Five Finish
Oregon completed a regular season of all top-five finishes with a fifth-place showing at the Silverado Showdown earlier this month, jumping into the top five with a strong final round despite playing without two of its top players in Kiara Romero and Karen Tsuru. After entering the final round in seventh place, the Ducks put together a 2-under 286 in the final round to move up two spots. Oregon was led by freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, who fired a 2-under 70 in the final round to finish in a tie for 11th at even par for the week. Sonja Tang, Anika Varma and Tong An all came up clutch with even-par 72s in the final round to help UO surge up the board, and sophomore Darae Chung put together a 1-under 71 while competing as an individual.

Top-10 Finish For Romero At Augusta
The Ducks were without star sophomore Kiara Romero at the Silverado Showdown, but for good reason as Romero had just secured a top-10 finish a couple days prior at the Augusta National Women's Amateur. Romero fired a 5-under 67 in the opening round and a 4-under 68 in the second round at Champions Retreat Golf Club to sit in a tie for the lead at 9 under. After the entire field - which included freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham - got to play a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, Romero was in the final pairing for Saturday's final round alongside defending champion and top-ranked amateur Lottie Woad. Romero would go on to shoot a 2-over 74 in the final round and tie for seventh overall, joining Hsin-Yu Lu (T-5th, 2023) as the only Ducks to finish in the top 10 at the tournament.

Tsuru Claims First Win At Juli Inkster Invite
Sophomore Karen Tsuru took center stage at the Juli Inkster Invitational last month, claiming the first individual win of her collegiate win after finishing in a three-way tie for first place at 13-under par. Tsuru posted a career-low 6-under 66 in the opening round before following that up with a 4-under 68 and a 3-under 69, extending her streak of consecutive sub-70 rounds to six. Tsuru powered the Ducks to a second-place finish, as Oregon shot 21 under for the tournament to finish behind only No. 1 Stanford (-29). Sophomore Kiara Romero posted her fifth top-10 finish of the season in sixth at 5-under par (68-74-69), and freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham also notched her fifth top-10 performance in a tie for 10th at even par (67-76-73). Tsuru joined Vinijchaitham (Alice & John Wallace Classic) as Ducks to win individual titles this season, and she earned the 42nd individual victory in program history.

Ducks, Vinijchaitham Make History In Dominant Victory
Oregon ran away with the team title at the Alice & John Wallace Classic in mid-February, 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 to give UO three players in the top five. It was a historic week for the 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 in the final round, six strokes better than the previous program record for the lowest team score in a round - set earlier this spring in the final round of the Therese Hession Regional Challenge. Oregon's three rounds were the three lowest team scores of the week, and all three placed in the top five in program history. Oregon secured the 39th tournament win in program history, and ninth since head coach Derek Radley took over ahead of the 2018-19 season.

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 was 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. Vinijchaitham was named the Big Ten Golfer of the Week for her performance, becoming the first Duck to earn a Big Ten Conference weekly honor.

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. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. In 53 career rounds of stroke play as a Duck, Romero has produced 41 rounds of par-or-better with 20 sub-70 performances while recording 14 top-10 finishes, and she has already surpassed 200 career birdies.

Living In The Top Five
The Ducks have an impressive history of top-five finishes under head coach Derek Radley. Oregon has placed in the top five in 49 of 66 tournaments since Radley took over ahead of the 2018-19 season, headlined by an impressive nine tournament victories. The Ducks have finished in the top five in all nine stroke play tournaments in 2024-25, including their dominant victory at the Alice & John Wallace Classic. UO has reached the national semifinals at the NCAA Championships in two of the last three seasons, finishing as the national runners-up in 2021-22 before returning to the semifinals last season.