Hsin-Yu Lu (Courtesy of Oregon Athletics)
Oregon and Arizona State made the most of a long and trying day on Tuesday at the Pac-12 Women's Golf Championships being held at the Eugene (Ore.) Country Club.
On a day that saw the teams endure more than five hours of weather delays, the Ducks and Sun Devils, who managed to complete their second rounds before play was suspended due to darkness, are tied atop the leaderboard at 4-over 580 while the Washington Huskies are just one back at 5-over 581.
UCLA (+9), Oregon State (+16) and Colorado (+23) also finished its rounds before darkness settled in while top-ranked Stanford (+5), No. 9 USC (+9), Arizona (+21), Washington State (+27) and California (+28) will complete their second rounds on Wednesday morning.
The top six teams are separated by just five total strokes with 18-plus holes remaining on Wednesday.
After carding a 7-over 295 in blustery conditions on Monday, the second-ranked Ducks stormed back on Tuesday with a 3-under round of 285 to move to the top of the leaderboard along with No. 7 Arizona State, who got into the house at 2-under for the day.
Led by individual tournament leader
Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu, Oregon's four counting players went 9-under on the back nine. Lu made five birdies in a seven-hole stretch to finish with a 66 while
Tze-Han (Heather) Lin and
Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen each played the back nine in 2-under, leaving the Ducks in the thick of the hunt for the team title entering Wednesday's third and final round.
Alessandra Fanali "We just got back into our groove," said Oregon head coach Derek Radley. "We really didn't have it much yesterday with the wind, and this morning with the challenging conditions. We just looked more like us (this afternoon). Just so proud of them to fight back the way they did."
Behind 1-under rounds of 71 by senior
Alessandra Fanali and freshman
Calynne Rosholt, the Arizona State (2-under 286) turned in the second-lowest round of the day to gain a share of the lead with Oregon, which is playing on its home course at Eugene Country Club. Senior
Alexandra Forsterling and sophomore
Ashley Menne finished the day at even par.
A 2-under for the tournament, Fanali is tied for second among the individuals with Washington's
Stefanie Deng, four strokes off the pace of overall leader Hsin-Yu Lu of Oregon.
"Today was one of the longest days on a golf course that I have experienced as a coach with several delays due to rain and an unplayable golf course," said Arizona State head coach Missy Farr-Kaye. "We hung in there and played well on the back today.
"We are happy that we are tied for the lead but we still do not know how much golf will be played tomorrow due to more rain expected. We knew that Oregon would be a team to contend with, but we also know that we are capable of managing these tough conditions. We will be ready for whatever possible scenarios we will face tomorrow."
With much of the pre-tournament talk focused on Stanford, Oregon, Arizona State and USC, the Washington Huskies quietly sat in the back of the room and nodded before going to work.
With Deng,
Camille Boyd and
Kennedy Knox all turning in 1-under rounds of 71 on Tuesday, the Huskies find themselves just one shot off the lead entering the final round.
"Wow! What a day!" said Washington head coach Mary Lou Mulflur. "We just managed to finish our second round before dark. There are still players that have to finish round two before we can even think about round three."
After its tee time was delayed nearly five hours, top-ranked Stanford finally teed off at 3:40 p.m. and only
Sadie Englemann (74) was able to complete her round before darkness settled in.
Rose Zhang was even on her round when play was suspended, while
Aline Krauter and
Brooke Seay were 2-over.
Another long day is ahead of the teams on Wednesday. Players who didn't complete their second rounds will be back on the course at 7:00 a.m. before a tentative shotgun start at 9 a.m. to begin the third round. The forecast calls for a 90% chance of rain on Wednesday in Eugene.
ABOUT THE Pac-12 Women's Championship
54-hole stroke-play to decide the champion of the
Pacific Athletic Conference. Team (best four scores
out
of five players each round) and individual
competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information