Sept. 3, 2010

MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's golf team is ranked 11th in the preseason Golf World/NGCA coaches' poll while Danielle Kang and Andrew Putnam earned notice on the publication's Top 50 Players to Watch list.

Golf World ranked the top 10 players among the men and women and Kang (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake HS) came in sixth on the women's list. She had an outstanding summer, highlighted by her victory at the U.S. Women's Amateur. Kang also qualified for the U.S. Open for the second time and was one of only six amateurs to make the cut, had a second-place showing at the Canadian Women's Amateur and was the medalist of the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Junior Golf Championship before falling in the quarterfinals.

Kang, who graduated early from high school to enroll at Pepperdine last January, earned All-American second team honors from Golfweek after tying for 15th place at the 2010 NCAA Championships.

The Pepperdine women, who tied for 14th as a team at the NCAA Championships, begin the 2010-11 season at the NCAA Fall Preview, hosted by Texas A&M, on Sept. 13-15.

Putnam (University Place, Wash./Life Christian Academy) also had a good summer, as he won the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, was second at the Sahalee Players Championship and competed at both the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur.

Golf World didn't rank players 11 through 50, which is where Putnam landed on the men's list. The senior earned All-American honors for the Waves as a freshman and sophomore and has been the team's scoring leader the past three seasons.

Pepperdine's men begin the 2010-11 season at the Washington Husky Invitational on Sept. 20-21.