Womens Golf B1G Champions: OREGON!

[Charles Fischer]

Those darn pesky former Pac-12 schools are beginning to torque-off the B1G stalwarts...

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Big Ten Champs! Ducks, Romero Run Away With Conference Title

 

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. - Trailing by three strokes entering the final round, the Oregon women's golf team put together a dominant performance on Sunday to run away with the 2025 Big Ten Championship at Bulle Rock Golf Course.

 

The No. 5 Ducks fired a stellar 12-under 276 to win the team title by a whopping 14 strokes, matching the tournament 54-hole scoring record in the process with a 12-under 852 for the weekend. Sophomore Kiara Romero gave Oregon a championship sweep by claiming the individual conference title at 7-under par, winning by three strokes after a 4-under 68 in the final round. 

 

Oregon won the Big Ten title in its first year in the league while claiming the second conference championship in program history, joining the 2021-22 team that won the Pac-12 Championship. 

 

It is the second tournament win of the season for the Ducks and ninth under head coach Derek Radley. It is also the fifth Big Ten title for Oregon Athletics in its first year in the conference, joining women's cross country, football and both men's and women's indoor track and field. 

 

"Just really proud of the way our ladies performed this week," Radley told Big Ten Network after the round. "I was really proud of us because the wind switched today; it was out of the south for rounds one and two and we came in with a strict game plan today and really stuck to it. When those putts start falling, I just stay out of the way and keep cheering. I couldn't be more proud of this group."

 

Romero becomes the third Duck to win an individual conference title, joining Hsin-Yu Lu (2022) and Caroline Inglis (2015). She earned her first individual tournament win of the season and third of her career, moving into a tie for second all-time at Oregon. 

 

"I think we all inspire each other and look up to each other a lot," Romero said while with her teammates at the trophy presentation. "It feels good to finally get this dub for all of us."

 

With the conference title, the Ducks earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Regional round and will find out where they will be heading on Wednesday during the NCAA selection show. 

 

 

How it Happened: Oregon started the day three strokes back of No. 24 Michigan State, which fired a 7-under 281 on Saturday to surge into the lead. The Ducks didn't take long to erase that deficit, as their four counting scorers combined to shoot 3-under par on the front nine compared to a 4-over par showing for the Spartans. 

 

The Ducks were even better on the back nine to run away with the title, combining for 11 birdies against just one double bogey from the four counting scores. Oregon's 12-under 852 ties the 2016 Ohio State and Northwestern teams for the lowest 54-hole team total in Big Ten Championship history. 

 

The majority of the attention on Sunday was on Romero as she captured the individual title, but it was freshman Tong An who provided the low score of the day for the Ducks. An made six birdies en route to a bogey-free 6-under 66, her lowest round as a Duck and the lowest individual round of the weekend. An was 3 under through 15 holes before rattling off three straight birdies to end the day, finishing in a tie for fifth overall.

 

"Just an unbelievable day from AT," Radley said. "For a true freshman to come out and play like that in the final round with a championship on the line is truly amazing. I'm so proud of her and was so impressed with her poise and composure out there today."

 

Romero was nearly flawless on her way to the individual Big Ten title, making five birdies and just one bogey on her way to a 4-under 68. She was 1-under par at the turn to take a one-stroke lead after entering the final round in a three-way tie atop the leaderboard, and she began to separate with a birdie at the par-3 12th. 

 

Back-to-back birdies on No. 15 and No. 16 put Romero firmly in control of the individual race, and she finished with a pair of pars to officially secure both the team and individual championships. 

 

 

"To be honest, I didn't look at the leaderboard this whole week so I had no clue," Romero said. "I kind of had an idea that I'd be somewhere around the top and when I made those back-to-back birdies I was feeling pretty confident going down to these last few holes."

 

Freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham also put together her best round of the weekend, making four birdies and just one bogey for a 3-under 69. She was even at the turn before shooting 3 under on the back nine, including three birdies in five holes between No. 11 and No. 15. She gave the Ducks three players in the top 10, finishing in ninth overall at 1 under. 

 

Sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang, who was the 18-hole leader at 3 under, rounded out Oregon's counting scores in the final round with a 1-over 73. Outside of a double bogey at No. 13, Huang was 1 under across the rest of her 17 holes, and she tied for 19th overall to give Oregon four Ducks in the individual top 20. 

 

Ducks on the Leaderboard:

1. #5 Oregon — 286-290-276 — 852 (-12)

1. Kiara Romero — 71-70-68 — 209 (-7)

T5. Tong An — 74-74-66 — 214 (-2)

9. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham — 75-71-69 — 215 (-1)

T19. Ting-Hsuan Huang — 69-77-73 — 219 (+3)

T46. Darae Chung — 72-75-78 — 225 (+9)

 

What it Means: Oregon has looked like a national championship contender all season long, and the Ducks only confirmed that this weekend by capturing the conference title in their first year in the Big Ten. UO won the conference championship with a lineup of all underclassmen, and even did so without one of its top players as sophomore Karen Tsuru was forced to sit out of the tournament with a back injury. The Ducks are a virtual lock to be a No. 1 seed in a NCAA Regional, needing to finish in the top five there to reach the NCAA Championships. After reaching the national semifinals at the NCAA Championships a year ago, Oregon appears poised to be a force to be reckoned with once again this spring. 

 

Notable: Oregon's 12-under 276 in the final round is tied for the fourth-lowest team round vs. par in program history and is tied for the fifth-lowest overall team score ... UO's 12-under 852 for the tournament is the program's second-lowest ever at a conference championship, behind only an 848 at last year's Pac-12 Championship ... Oregon led the field in total birdies (51) and par-5 scoring (-11), and Romero led all players with 14 total birdies. 

 

Up Next: The 2025 NCAA Women's Golf Selection Show is scheduled for Wednesday (April 23) at 10 a.m. PT and will be broadcast on Golf Channel. The NCAA Regional round is scheduled for May 5-7 at six different sites with 12 teams at each site. Oregon will make its 17th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance after earning the Big Ten's automatic bid. 

 

[Drake]

Kiara Romero won the 2023 US Junior Girls championship. She enrolled at Oregon in 2023 , and as a freshman set the single season scoring record for Oregon at 70.84 in 31 rounds. 
 

She just turned 19 years old.
 

She may very well be someone we see do very well at the next level.