Saturday, May 17
All Day
University of Oregon
vs
NCAA Championships
Steady Ducks Remain Third Through 36 Holes
05/17/25 | Women's Golf
CARLSBAD, Calif. – The Oregon women's golf team got another steady day from the duo of Ting-Hsuan Huang and Suvichaya Vinijchaitham on Saturday and junior Anika Varma came up big in the clutch to keep the Ducks in third place through the first two rounds of the 2025 NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa.
The No. 5 Ducks came in with a 1-over 289 on Saturday behind even-par performances from Huang, Vinijchaitham and Varma. Oregon is 1 over through 36 holes and alone in third place, five strokes back of No. 1 Stanford for the lead and just one shot behind No. 11 Northwestern for second.
The top 15 teams following Sunday's round will advance to a fourth and final round of stroke play, with the top eight teams at the end of Monday's action advancing to match play. Oregon is currently 12 strokes clear of the projected cut line for the top 15.
"Not our cleanest day out there, but I'm proud of our Ducks for hanging in there and putting together a solid round," head coach Derek Radley said. "It was a quick turnaround for us with an early start after playing in the afternoon yesterday and I thought our ladies did a good job of taking care of their bodies and staying ready. This is a tight field so we need to get some good rest tonight and come back out tomorrow ready to attack the golf course."
Huang and Vinijchaitham both sit at 1 under for the weekend, shooting even on Saturday after coming in at 1 under in the opening round. Varma put together arguably her best round as a Duck in her NCAA Championships debut after subbing into the lineup for round two, making four birdies en route to a 72.
"Really proud of what Anika was able to give us out there," Radley said. "She's been preparing all week as if she was going to be in the lineup and she really took advantage of her opportunity today. And Hut (Vinijchaitham) and Tiffany (Huang) were really solid once again today. Those three did a great job of stabilizing us and keeping us in a good spot."
Oregon will play in the morning wave again on Sunday as a result of being in the top three, an advantage for the Ducks given how strong the winds tend to get later in the day in Carlsbad.
How it Happened: Varma was the second Duck on the course after subbing in for freshman Tong An, and she got off to a steady start with five straight pars. She made her first birdie of the day on her sixth hole and then bounced back from a bogey just before the turn with back-to-back birdies to get to 2 under.
Varma would shoot 2 over across her final seven holes to finish at even par, but did a great job of minimizing the damage despite some tough breaks. On the par-5 sixth hole, the junior hit a tremendous shot out of a fairway bunker that hit the flag stick on the fly and ricocheted all the way off the green, but she was able to get up and down to save par.
Huang was mistake-free for the majority of her day, starting with 12 consecutive pars before getting to 2 under with a pair of birdies in a three-hole stretch. She closed the round with back-to-back bogeys, but still contributed a par-or-better round for the second day in a row.
Vinijchaitham's round was similar, although a bit more eventful. The freshman was 1 over at the turn before going birdie-bogey-birdie on holes 2-4 to get back to even. After a bogey at No. 7, Vinijchaitham made par at No. 8 and then stuck her approach shot on the ninth and drained her birdie putt to end Oregon's round on a strong note.
Huang and Vinijchaitham are the top Ducks on the leaderboard entering round three, sitting in a tie for 13th overall at 1 under.
Sophomore Karen Tsuru rounded out Oregon's counting scores with a 1-over 73, making the turn at 1 over before making all pars on her final nine.
The Ducks are in the top three and in good position entering Sunday despite not counting a 2-over 74 from all-American and Big Ten Golfer of the Year Kiara Romero. It was the first time in 30 rounds this season that Romero did not count towards Oregon's team score.
Ducks on the Leaderboard:
3. #5 Oregon – 288-289 – 577 (+1)
T13. Ting-Hsuan Huang – 71-72 – 143 (-1)
T13. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham – 71-72 – 143 (-1)
T33. Kiara Romero – 72-74 – 146 (+2)
T43. Karen Tsuru – 74-73 – 147 (+3)
NA. Anika Varma – Sub-72 – 72 (E)
NA. Tong An – 74-Sub – 74 (+2)
Up Next: Oregon will tee off from hole No. 1 beginning at 6:30 a.m. PT on Sunday.
The No. 5 Ducks came in with a 1-over 289 on Saturday behind even-par performances from Huang, Vinijchaitham and Varma. Oregon is 1 over through 36 holes and alone in third place, five strokes back of No. 1 Stanford for the lead and just one shot behind No. 11 Northwestern for second.
The top 15 teams following Sunday's round will advance to a fourth and final round of stroke play, with the top eight teams at the end of Monday's action advancing to match play. Oregon is currently 12 strokes clear of the projected cut line for the top 15.
"Not our cleanest day out there, but I'm proud of our Ducks for hanging in there and putting together a solid round," head coach Derek Radley said. "It was a quick turnaround for us with an early start after playing in the afternoon yesterday and I thought our ladies did a good job of taking care of their bodies and staying ready. This is a tight field so we need to get some good rest tonight and come back out tomorrow ready to attack the golf course."
Huang and Vinijchaitham both sit at 1 under for the weekend, shooting even on Saturday after coming in at 1 under in the opening round. Varma put together arguably her best round as a Duck in her NCAA Championships debut after subbing into the lineup for round two, making four birdies en route to a 72.
"Really proud of what Anika was able to give us out there," Radley said. "She's been preparing all week as if she was going to be in the lineup and she really took advantage of her opportunity today. And Hut (Vinijchaitham) and Tiffany (Huang) were really solid once again today. Those three did a great job of stabilizing us and keeping us in a good spot."
Oregon will play in the morning wave again on Sunday as a result of being in the top three, an advantage for the Ducks given how strong the winds tend to get later in the day in Carlsbad.
How it Happened: Varma was the second Duck on the course after subbing in for freshman Tong An, and she got off to a steady start with five straight pars. She made her first birdie of the day on her sixth hole and then bounced back from a bogey just before the turn with back-to-back birdies to get to 2 under.
Varma would shoot 2 over across her final seven holes to finish at even par, but did a great job of minimizing the damage despite some tough breaks. On the par-5 sixth hole, the junior hit a tremendous shot out of a fairway bunker that hit the flag stick on the fly and ricocheted all the way off the green, but she was able to get up and down to save par.
Huang was mistake-free for the majority of her day, starting with 12 consecutive pars before getting to 2 under with a pair of birdies in a three-hole stretch. She closed the round with back-to-back bogeys, but still contributed a par-or-better round for the second day in a row.
Vinijchaitham's round was similar, although a bit more eventful. The freshman was 1 over at the turn before going birdie-bogey-birdie on holes 2-4 to get back to even. After a bogey at No. 7, Vinijchaitham made par at No. 8 and then stuck her approach shot on the ninth and drained her birdie putt to end Oregon's round on a strong note.
Huang and Vinijchaitham are the top Ducks on the leaderboard entering round three, sitting in a tie for 13th overall at 1 under.
Sophomore Karen Tsuru rounded out Oregon's counting scores with a 1-over 73, making the turn at 1 over before making all pars on her final nine.
The Ducks are in the top three and in good position entering Sunday despite not counting a 2-over 74 from all-American and Big Ten Golfer of the Year Kiara Romero. It was the first time in 30 rounds this season that Romero did not count towards Oregon's team score.
Ducks on the Leaderboard:
3. #5 Oregon – 288-289 – 577 (+1)
T13. Ting-Hsuan Huang – 71-72 – 143 (-1)
T13. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham – 71-72 – 143 (-1)
T33. Kiara Romero – 72-74 – 146 (+2)
T43. Karen Tsuru – 74-73 – 147 (+3)
NA. Anika Varma – Sub-72 – 72 (E)
NA. Tong An – 74-Sub – 74 (+2)
Up Next: Oregon will tee off from hole No. 1 beginning at 6:30 a.m. PT on Sunday.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
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