April 10, 2011

Final Results

TEMPE, Ariz. - Sophomore Johnny Mac Arthur recorded his second top-10 finish of the week and led the Pepperdine men's golf team with his tie for ninth place at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational on Sunday.

Unfortunately for the Waves, they dropped from third to seventh place after a final-round 292. The Waves shot a 13-over 865 (287-286-292) over the two days at the par-71 Karsten Golf Course and finished just two strokes out of fourth place. Four of the teams that finished ahead of the Waves are ranked in Golfstat's top 25.

Mac Arthur (Newhall, Calif./Hart HS), who was coming off a career-best eighth-place finish at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate earlier in the week, posted the second top 10 performance of his career with the help of a 2-under 69 on Sunday. He finished with a career-best 1-under 212 (71-72-69) and moved up 10 spots in the final standings with his third-round score.

"It's great to see Johnny follow up his last performance with another good one," Pepperdine Coach John Geiberger said. "It's great for his confidence come the postseason. He's getting better in all facets of the game. He only had three rough holes, take those out of the equation and he had a chance to win the tournament."

His only blemish on Sunday was a double-bogey on the fifth hole, but he recovered by posting three of his four birdies on the back nine.

"It obviously feels good," Mac Arthur said. "I'm playing better than I have in a while, so with back-to-back top tens I'm definitely progressing. My putter is what's doing it. I'm making a lot of putts. It's a great time to be playing well with the postseason coming around."

Senior Andrew Putnam (University Place, Wash./Life Christian Academy) tied for 24th place with a 3-over 216 (71-71-74). He had three birdies during his final round.

Junior Josh Anderson (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS) took 39th place at 219 (73-71-75), senior Andrew Widmar (El Paso, Texas/Cathedral HS) tied for 40th place at 220 (72-72-76) and senior Austyn Karle (Scottsdale, Ariz./Notre Dame Prep) tied for 70th place at 232 (77-81-74).

Playing as an individual, freshman Parker Page (Louisville, Ky./Ballard HS) posted a couple of career bests with his third-round score (a 1-under 70) and finish (a tie for 24th place). He shot 75-71-70 and ended up with a 3-over 216. Page had an eagle on the par-5 14th hole and three birdies on Sunday.

With the regular season now complete, the Waves will look to defend their 2010 West Coast Conference championship at the league tournament on April 18-19 at the San Juan Oaks Golf Club in Hollister, Calif. Pepperdine will be aiming for its 18th conference championship overall.

"Our guys realize what's coming up and what's at stake," Geiberger said. "If Josh and Andrew keep pulling the cart, and with Johnny playing as well as he has, we can be competitive. We need to finish our rounds better. We're close. We haven't played as well as we would have liked at some of our tournaments, but we're close to playing well."

Team Scores: 1. USC 287-271-279=837; 2. San Diego State 281-286-284=851; 3. UNLV 296-282-279=857; 4. Cal State Northridge 292-286-285=863; T5. California 288-296-280=864; T5. Arizona State 284-292-288=864; 7. Pepperdine 287-286-292=865; 8. Florida State 290-283-293=866; 9. Northwestern 298-283-288=869; T10. Colorado State 285-289-297=871; T10. UC Irvine 294-289-288=871; T12. Washington State 297-297-289=883; T12. San Jose State 302-290-291=883.

Top Individuals: 1. J.J. Spaun (San Diego State) 70-69-67=206; 2. Nick Delio (Cal State Northridge) 72-65-70=207; 3. Jeffrey Kang (USC) 71-69-68=208; T4. Steve Lim (USC) 70-68-71=209; T4. Martin Trainer (USC) 74-66-69=209.

Pepperdine Scores: T9. Johnny Mac Arthur 71-72-69=212; T24. * Parker Page 75-71-70=216; T24. Andrew Putnam 71-71-74=216; 39. Josh Anderson 73-71-75=219; T40. Andrew Widmar 72-72-76=220; T70. Austyn Karle 77-81-74=232.

* playing as an individual