No. 25 Pepperdine Opens NCAA West Regional Championships Thursday
5/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 18, 2005
Malibu, Calif. -
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The Pepperdine men's golf team, which captured its seventh straight West Coast Conference (WCC) crown last month, travels to the Bay Area this week to compete in the NCAA West Regional at the Stanford University Golf Course in Stanford, California.
The tournament begins on Thursday and continues through Saturday with 18 holes scheduled each day at the par-70, 6,742 yard course. The Waves, seeded 12th in the field, are paired with Louisiana State and Washington and will tee-off at 12:18 p.m. (PDT) from hole No. 10 on Thursday.
The West Regional also includes second-ranked and No. 1 seed UNLV along with third seed and No. 5 New Mexico. All the action can be followed live at www.golfstat.com.
In addition to the West Regional at Stanford, regional sites also include the East Regional at the Golf Club of Tennessee in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Central Regional at the Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Indiana. A total of 27 teams and six individuals not on selected teams were assigned to each regional site. Ten teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each regional to the championship finals.
The 2005 NCAA Championships will be conducted June 1-4 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland. Loyola College (Maryland) is the host institution for this year's championships.
Head coach John Geiberger's Waves are making their 13th NCAA Regional appearance and seventh straight. Pepperdine, which finished ninth at the NCAA West Regional in Sunriver, Oregon, and advanced to the NCAA Championships where it placed 10th a year ago, is seeking its seventh NCAA Championships appearance.
The Waves capttured the 1997 national championship at Conway Farms in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Pepperdine's best-ever showing at the regionals came in 1996 when in it placed fourth at the West Regional in Stanford, California.
The regionals will be the Waves' first tournament since winning the WCC Championships on May 12. Pepperdine registered a 14-shot victory over second-place Saint Mary's with a 54-hole score of 846 at the Saddle Creek Golf Club in Copperopolis, California. Senior Brian O'Flaherty led the Waves with a 6-under total of 210.
Pepperdine has 10 Top 10 finishes in 12 tournaments this season. The Waves won team titles at The Club Glove Intercollegiate and the WCC Championships, and has a second-place showing at the Arizona State Thunderbird Invitational.
Pepperdine is led by senior All-American Michael Putnam, who is on pace to break his own Pepperdine record for the lowest single-season stroke average (71.00), enters this week's play with a 70.73 stroke average and is ranked No. 14 in the latest Golfweek rankings. The Tacoma, Washington, native was recently named the WCC's "Golfer of the Month" for March, marking the fourth time he has received the honor during the 2004-05 season.
Additionally, Putnam was a semi-finalist for the 2005 Ben Hogan Award and is one five finalists for the prestigious Byron Nelson Award.
PUTNAM NAMED TO PALMER CUP TEAM: Already one of 10 semifinalists for the 2005 Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the nation's top collegiate golf, Michael Putnam was selected to the 2005 Palmer Cup Team that will represent the United States at the annual Ryder Cup-style competition between American collegiate golfers and their counterparts from Europe. The competition will be conducted June 8-9 on the par-72, 7,201-yard Whistling Straits Irish Course in Ireland.
THE PROGRAM: Although historical records are sketchy, Pepperdine fielded its first-ever golf team in the late 1940's or early 1950's. The program was deemphasized in the early 1970's when the school relocated to Malibu, but was reinstituted as an intercollegiate sport in the fall of 1982. In 1987, Pepperdine achieved its first notable success, as the Waves upset several local collegiate powers and claimed the team championship of the Southern California Invitational at the Torrey Pines Country Club in San Diego. Pepperdine won its first-ever West Coast Conference (WCC) title that same year, and Jim Johnson earned a spot competing as an individual at the NCAA Championships--a first-time accomplishment for a Waves' player. Pepperdine has since won the WCC crown a total of 14 times--1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004--in the last 18 seasons. Additionally, the Waves have advanced to the NCAA West Regional Championships 11 times since 1992, and earned a spot in the 30-team NCAA Championships field six times in the last 11 years (1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002 and 2004). Pepperdine has emerged as a regular in the national Top 25 rankings since 1993, and climaxed the 1997 campaign by winning its first-ever NCAA team title.
John Geiberger: John Geiberger begins his ninth season as the Waves' head coach. During his rookie season in 1996-97, Geiberger directed Pepperdine to its first-ever NCAA men's golf title. A three-year letterwinner at Pepperdine from 1989-91, Geiberger was hired as the University's head men's golf coach in August of 1996. During Geiberger's collegiate career in Malibu, Pepperdine captured West Coast Conference (WCC) titles in 1989 and 1991, and he earned All-WCC accolades in 1990 and 1991. Geiberger earned a bachelor's degree in organizational communications from the University in 1993. In addition to playing in numerous amateur tournaments, Geiberger caddied for his father, Al, on a regular basis from 1991-96 on the PGA Senior Tour. Geiberger was tabbed the 1997 WCC "Coach of the Year" after leading the Waves to the league championship.Geiberger was selected the 1997 National and District 8 "Coach of the Year" by the Golf Coaches Association of America. Pepperdine has won the WCC title each of the last five seasons, and Geiberger has shared the league's "Coach of the Year" award in 1999, 2000 and 2002.
SPORTS INFORMATION HOTLINE: For updated information concerning Pepperdine athletics, including results and a schedule of upcoming events, please contact the Pepperdine Sports Information Hotline at 310-506-7373. The hotline will be updated on a regular basis throughout the course of the 2004-05 school year.
ON THE WEB: For updated information concerning Pepperdine athletics on the Internet, including results and a schedule of upcoming events, please bookmark the following address: http://www.PepperdineSports.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: For additional information on the men's golf program, or to arrange interviews with players and the coaching staff, please contact Al Barba at the Pepperdine Sports Information Office by calling (310) 506-4445.
