OSU Cowgirls Golf Gets Boost from Freshman in NCAA Regional First Round

Oklahoma State’s low round of the day at the NCAA Women’s Golf Chapel Hill Regional came from a freshman as the Cowgirls hoped to maintain Top 5 position after the first round on Monday.

The Cowgirls finished in a tie for fourth place with a first-round total of 2-over par 282. The unexpected part was that OSU threw out Ellie Bushnell’s score, the All-Big 12 performer who led the team in birdies leading up the tournament.

Instead, it was freshman Yu-Chu Chen who provided the team’s low round of the day, a 1-under 69 on the 6,177 yards, Par 70 UNC Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Yu-Chu Chen's Big Day

To move to T-6 at 1-under…

Tara sticks it close and sinks the putt for her third birdie of the day!#golfschool | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/mOhCNnVb8h
— OSU Cowgirl Golf (@OSUcowgirlgolf) May 11, 2026

The round put Chen in a tie for fifth place with six other players. North Carolina’s Megan Streicher has a one-shot lead on the field at 5-under 67. Chen landed the under-par round with a birdie on the final hole, a 402-yard par-4.

The freshman from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, has finished just one tournament under par this season, landing in fifth place at the Huntington Bank Collegiate stroke play event last month. She finished at 7-under. In her last appearance at the Big 12 Tournament, she finished 10-over par and finished in 42nd place.

The team’s top player, Marta Silchenko, landed in a tie for 12th place with an even-par 70. She had a wild front nine, as she parred the first hold, birdied the next three and then bogeyed the next four. She logged two birdies, along with a bogey, to get back to even par at round’s end.

Tarapath Panya finished in a tie for 18th place with a 1-over par 71. She overcame a double bogey on the fourth hole with four birdies on the day. Had it not been for a bogey at No. 14 she would have finished at even-par. Summer Lee, who was an All-Big 12 Tournament selection, shot a 2-over par 72. She went 3-over on the front nine and logged another bogey on the back before back-to-back birdies on Nos. 15 and 16.

Bushnell had a rough front nine. She bogeyed three of the first four holes and managed to birdie the other. But it was a triple bogey at No. 8 that deep-sixed the round. She’ll look to bounce back on Tuesday.

North Carolina was one of two teams to finish under par on the first day as the Tar Heels finished at 6-under. Texas was 1-under. Virginia finished in third at 1-over, while OSU was tied with Mississippi State at 2-over.

OSU will tee off at 7 a.m. ET for round two and start at No. 10. Bushnell, Lee, Panya, Silchenko and Chen will tee off in that order, with Chen teeing off last at 7:44 a.m. They will play alongside golfers from Mississippi State and NC State.

The top five teams at the end of the third round on Wednesday advance to the NCAA championship tournament from May 22-27 at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. The Cowgirls have been to NCAA Championships each of the past five years,

NCAA Women’s Golf Championships

Chapel Hill Regional

At UNC Finley Golf Course, Chapel Hill, N.C.

OSU First-Round Scores

T5. Yu-Chu Chen (-1) – 69

T12. Marta Silchenko (E) – 70

T18. Tarapath Panya (+1) – 71

T26. Summer Lee (+2) – 72

T48. Ellie Bushnell (+6) – 76

First-Round Team Standings

1. UNC (-6) – 274

2. Texas (-1) – 279

3. Virginia (+1) – 281

T4. Oklahoma State (+2) - 282

T4. Mississippi State (+2) – 282

6. NC State (+3) – 283

7. Michigan State (+6) – 286

8. Kent State (+9) – 289

9. Furman (+18) – 298

10. High Point (+20) – 300

11. Richmond (+27) – 307

12. Howard (+28) – 308

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