When Oregon women’s golf finished its fourth round of the NCAA Tournament at the Eugene Country Club, the team still didn’t know its fate.
The Ducks had had a disappointing round. When senior Caroline Inglis dropped in the last putt of the day to put them at 8-over, they sat in ninth place tie with Arizona. They needed to finish 8th or better to move on to match play.
Luckily, the golf gods smiled upon them.
After waiting more than an hour for the rest of the field to finish, Oregon somehow landed in the eighth and final spot to make it to match play Tuesday.
Oregon head coach Ria Scott said that both her and assistant coach Laura Cilek wanted to “throw up” because of how “gut-wrenching” the wait was.
“We were in a really good position and we couldn’t do anything about it,” Scott said.
When Oregon finished its round, it sat two strokes behind eighth place Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were down to their last two holes. Barring a massive collapse, it appeared that Oregon’s season was over.
But as Scott likes to say, “It’s not over till the last putt drops.”
Oklahoma State’s last golfer, Linnea Johansson, triple-bogeyed the 18th hole, dropping them to 10th and shooting Oregon up into eighth place.
“It’s golf and you don’t want to cheer against them, but I mean I wanted us to make it,” Inglis said. “But that was tough. We’ve all been there. We’ve all been in that situation.
“Golf is just a cruel sport.”
Even after Oklahoma State’s collapse, Oregon was not done stressing.
Arizona went on a run on the last several holes. It all came down to their best golfer, Haley Moore. Moore had the opportunity to put Arizona into a tie with Oregon for eighth with a chip-shot birdie attempt on 18, but missed.
“That was definitely nerve-wracking,” junior Cathleen Santoso said. “But in my opinion everything happens for a reason and it just happened the way it did.”
All things considered, the Ducks are very lucky to advance. They shot 23 bogeys – two double, one triple – to only 14 birdies. They struggled on several seemingly easy putts. Not one Duck was below par either; freshman Petra Salko had an even par for their lowest score of the day. Yet luck seemed to be on their side.
“Part of me still can’t believe it till I do those match play pairings but this is awesome,” Scott said
Inglis followed up her record day on Saturday with a a one-over yesterday. Today, she shot 5-over and thought her collegiate career was finished.
“I didn’t think we were going to make it to be honest,” she said.
Yet, here they are. One step closer to a National Championship.
Getting there will be no easy feat. Oregon is matched up against one seed and current first place holder UCLA for tomorrows match play.
The Ducks tee off at 7:50 at Eugene Country Club tomorrow morning with championship aspirations still in mind.
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris