When Kaleiya Romero tees it up this week at The Standard Portland Classic, she won’t just be competing on the LPGA Tour, she’ll be doing it in a state that already feels like home.

The 24-year-old from San Jose, California, arrives at Columbia Edgewater Country Club sitting at No. 2 in the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card, trailing fellow rookie Lauren Olivares in the standings that determine who earns LPGA Tour membership for 2027. It’s the latest milestone in a rookie season that has turned into one of the breakout stories of the year on the LPGA’s official developmental tour, and one that traces directly back to a detour Romero never expected to take: a season on the coaching staff at the University of Oregon.

After wrapping up a decorated four years at Pepperdine University — four straight All-West Coast Conference First Team honors and a WCC individual title among the highlights — Romero didn’t head straight to the pro circuit. Instead, she moved to Eugene, Ore. to serve as a graduate assistant and assistant coach for the University of Oregon women’s golf program under head coach Derek Radley, working alongside the Ducks while pursuing her master’s degree.

The move had a personal pull: it reunited Romero with her younger sister, Kiara, then a freshman standout for Oregon who has since become the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur and a two-time first-team All-American. It also gave Kaleiya a chance to step away from playing after a stretch in which she admits she’d lost some of her love for the game.

That year in Eugene ended up changing everything. Working with the Ducks’ roster, helping with day-to-day team operations and simply being around the game without the pressure of competing helped Romero rediscover why she started playing in the first place. She reentered Q-School that fall, advanced through final qualifying and earned her full Epson Tour card for 2026.