Oregon Goes Toe to Toe With No. 1 Arkansas, Drops Match Play Final 3-2

NICHOLS HILLS, Oklahoma - The Oregon women’s golf team made it to the matchplay championship on Wednesday at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup after winning the 54-hole stroke play portion of the tournament on Tuesday.

But the Ducks ended up dropping a 3-2 decision to No. 1 ranked Arkansas at Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club.

The Ducks dominated stroke play in a six-team field that featured No. Arkansas, No. 2 South Carolina, No. 9 Florida State and No. 17 Wake Forest.

After closing Monday with a one-stroke lead, the Ducks put together the best round of any team this week with a 1-over 281 to finish a whopping 14 strokes above the top-ranked Razorbacks.

On Wednesday the No. 13 ranked Ducks put two points on the board from sophomores Darae Chung and Karen Tsuru as they faced Arkansas in the matchplay final.

The match came down to sophomore Kiara Romero, who was tied through 17 holes before Arkansas' Natalie Blonien made a lengthy birdie putt on the 18th to clinch the win.

"I'm extremely proud of the way our team performed this week," Oregon head coach Derek Radley said. "This tournament gave our girls a great taste of what a national championship setting is like, and the experience is going to be really valuable for us as we move through the season. We're thankful for the opportunity and grateful for everyone who worked so hard to put on such a great event."

After performing well in stroke play in her first tournament as a Duck, Chung was Oregon's most dominant player on Wednesday. Going up against Arkansas' Reagan Zibilski, Chung was 2 down through six holes before winning five consecutive holes to get to 3 up through 11. She gained another hole at No. 14 to get to 4 up, and then matched pars on the 15th to win 4&3.

Tsuru was 1 down at the turn but pulled even with a par on the 10th. She matched birdies with Arkansas' Kendall Todd at the 13th to stay tied and then carded another birdie at No. 14 to go 1 up. Tsuru matched Todd the rest of the way, including a birdie at No. 17, to put a second point on the board for the Ducks with a 1-up victory.

Arkansas answered with a pair of wins, bringing the match down to Romero and Blonien. Romero had been 2 down through four holes, but won three straight holes to get to 1 up through seven. Blonien answered with a birdie at No. 8 to pull even, before Romero won at No. 9 to make the turn at 1 up.

The match was back to even through 12 holes, and Romero capitalized on back-to-back bogeys by Blonien to take a 2-up lead through 14. Blonien once again answered with a birdie at No. 15 to cut the deficit in half, and then took advantage of a bogey by Romero at No. 17 by making par and tying the match going to the 18th.

Both players hit the fairway and the green on the 18th. Romero put a lengthy lag putt inside a couple of feet to put the pressure on Blonien, who was able to drain a long birdie putt to win the match for the Razorbacks.

Oregon’s lineup featured three sophomores including Romero who was a WGCA All-American First Team last year, and two freshmen.

To win by 14 strokes over a field that included three top-10 teams including No. 1 Arkansas is an impressive feat, that the Ducks can take with them.

Fighting to the finish against Arkansas shows a glimpse into what may lie ahead as they press on to the spring, where they made it to the national semifinals a year ago.

The Ducks will finish their fall season at the East Lake Cup in Atlanta (Oct. 28-30) where they will gain more match-play experience and play on the Golf Channel at the event.