Men's Golf Ends Fall Season in Hawai'i
11/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
UPCOMING — The Pepperdine men’s golf team completes the fall season with its participation in the Turtle Bay Intercollegiate, hosted by Hawai’i, next Monday through Wednesday (Nov. 10-12). Eighteen holes will be played each day.
COURSE — The tournament will be held at the Turtle Bay Resort at both the Palmer Course (par-72, 7,218 yards) and the George Fazio Course (par-72, 6,535 yards) in Kahuku on the island of Oahu. The first and third rounds will be played at Fazio and the second round will be played at Palmer.
FIELD — There are 19 teams in the field: Baylor, Cal Poly, College of Charleston, Hawai‘i, Long Beach State, Louisiana-Monroe, Mississippi State, New Mexico State, Ohio State, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Point Loma Nazarene, Saint Mary’s, San Diego State, Santa Clara, UC Irvine, Texas, Texas-Arlington and UNLV.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves will send juniors Shane Mason and Carl Smith, sophomores Austyn Karle and Andrew Putnam and redshirt freshman Josh Anderson to the tournament. Anderson, Putnam and Smith have been in the lineup all season.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine is ranked #41 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Index, #42 by Golfstat and is receiving votes in the Golf World/Nike poll ... Andrew Putnam is #50 in the individual Golfweek/Sagarin index.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY — This is Pepperdine’s second straight appearance at the Turtle Bay Intercollegiate. Although the Waves tied for eighth last year, they shot a school-record 31-under 833, which included a record 18-under 270 in the first round. Andrew Putnam tied for third place and set school records with a 15-under 201 overall and a 9-under 63 in the third round. Four of the five Waves were at par or better.
LAST TOURNAMENT — The Waves went back east and took sixth place at the UNCG Bridgestone Collegiate on Oct. 27-28 with a score of 889. Josh Anderson (T13th) and Andrew Putnam (T19th) turned in top 20 finishes.
ANDERSON — Redshirt freshman Josh Anderson (Temecula, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS) is averaging 73.75 strokes in 12 rounds ... Has three top 20 finishes in his four starts ... In his collegiate debut, he tied for 18th at the Gopher Invitational (+6 222) ... He followed that up with a third-place finish at the Tucker Intercollegiate (-4 212), which featured a 3-under 69 on the second round ... Tied for 13th at the UNCG Bridgestone Collegiate (+4 220) ... He will play in the 2009 Buick Invitational after winning a one-round event for amateurs at Torrey Pines ... He won the 2007 California Amateur Championship and played in the 2008 U.S. Amateur.
KARLE — Sophomore Austyn Karle (Scottsdale, Ariz./Notre Dame Prep) is averaging 74.44 strokes in nine rounds ... He tied for 26th at the season-opening Gopher Invitational (+8 224), then tied for 11th at the Tucker Intercollegiate (+1 217) ... He appeared in four tournaments last season as a freshman and averaged 76.33 strokes in 12 rounds ... His younger sister Taylore plays for the Pepperdine’s women’s team and was an All-American last season.
MASON — Junior Shane Mason (San Diego, Calif./St. Augustine HS) is averaging 74.78 strokes in nine rounds ... He tied for 14th at the Coast BMW-Coast Nissan Championship as an individual ... He averaged 75.92 strokes in four tournaments as a sophomore ... He was in the lineup full-time as a freshman, averaging 75.73 strokes in 37 rounds.
PUTNAM — Sophomore Andrew Putnam (University Place, Wash./Life Christian Academy) is averaging a team-best 72.67 strokes in 12 rounds ... He has been in the top 20 in all four tournaments and in the top 10 in two of them ... He tied for eighth at the Tucker Intercollegiate (-1 215) ... Earned WCC Golfer of the Month honors for October after placing fourth at The Prestige at PGA West (1-under 215) and tying for 19th at the UNCG Bridgestone Collegiate (+5 221) ... Has had a pair of 4-under 68s and a total of five sub-par rounds ... Had an excellent freshman campaign, being named to the Golfweek All-American third team and the All-WCC first team as well as the WCC Freshman of the Year ... He averaged a team-best 73.07 strokes in 27 rounds ... He ended the 2007-08 season ranked #27 by Golfweek/Sagarin and #46 by Golfstat ... During summer 2008, he played in the U.S. Amateur and the Fuji Xerox USA vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship ... His older brother Michael was a three-time All-American at Pepperdine and currently plays on the PGA Tour.
SMITH — Junior Carl Smith (Laguna Beach, Calif./Santa Margarita HS) is averaging 76.17 strokes in 12 rounds ... His best finish so far is a tie for 37th at the Tucker Intercollegiate ... He is Pepperdine’s most experienced returning player with 63 rounds in the previous two seasons plus a redshirt year to his credit ... He began the year averaging 75.29 strokes for his career and was at 75.84 last season ... He earned All-WCC honorable mention honors each of the last two seasons.
2008-09 ROSTER — One thing you won’t find on Pepperdine’s roster is a senior. The 10-player roster is made up of five juniors, three sophomores, one redshirt freshman and one true freshman.
JOHN GEIBERGER — The 2007-08 season marks John Geiberger’s 13th as head coach of Pepperdine. In his first season as coach of the Waves, Geiberger led the team to the 1997 NCAA national title, the first in team history. Under Geiberger’s guidance, Pepperdine has won the WCC title nine times (1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007) and he has earned the league’s Coach of the Year honors on five occasions (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2005).
2007-08 RECAP — The Waves were one stroke away from their eighth NCAA Championships berth, but unfortunately came up just short. Pepperdine finished in a tie for ninth at the 2008 NCAA West Regional. In a three-team playoff with two teams advancing, the Waves ended up behind Texas and San Diego State. Earlier, the Waves tied for second at the WCC Championships. Eric Shriver advanced to the NCAA Championships as an individual. Andrew Putnam was named to the Golfweek All-American third team and the All-WCC first team and was also named WCC Freshman of the Year. Jesse Barnsley, Carl Smith and Andrew Widmar were All-WCC honorable mention.
PEPPERDINE GOLF HISTORY — Following the blueprint of other athletics programs at Pepperdine, the men’s golf team blossomed as a nationally recognized program and the Waves reached the pinnacle of success in May 1997 by winning the NCAA title for the first time. Pepperdine has made seven appearances at the NCAA Championships since 1993, has made 10 consecutive NCAA Regional berths and has won 16 of the last 22 WCC Championships.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men’s sports — one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine’s teams are ranked nationally year after year and compete for conference and national titles.
UP NEXT — The Waves are off until the spring, when they play in the PING Arizona Invitational on Feb. 2-3.
