Pepperdine University
NCAA Championships
Men's Golf Finishes Strong at NCAA Championships
6/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
June 2, 2011
STILLWATER, Okla. - Senior Andrew Putnam rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt with his final stroke as a member of the Pepperdine men's golf team, finishing the third round of the NCAA Championships on Thursday with a 1-under 71 and ending the Waves' season on a positive note.
The Waves played their best round of the three days and improved four spots in the final standings, beginning the day 29th of 30 teams but ending up in 25th place. The Waves finished two spots better than their pre-tournament seeding of #27.
Pepperdine shot 309-310-300 over the three days for a total of 919 at the ultra-tough Karsten Creek Golf Course and finished ahead of a couple of top 25-ranked teams in North Carolina State and Oklahoma.
"This was a much better finish," Pepperdine Coach John Geiberger said. "We talked about that last night, how it would feel to finish strong and feel better about ourselves. We moved up a little bit in the standings. The guys feel better about how they played. We had a very strong round going through about 12 holes and we were under par, which was great."
With the 52nd sub-par round of his career, Putnam (University Place, Wash./Life Christian Academy) moved up 40 spots on the leaderboard to finish in a tie for 38th place with a 7-over 223 (77-75-71). His final round consisted of three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 14th hole.
He ends a tremendous four-year career #2 on Pepperdine's career scoring list (trailing only his older brother Michael). He was an honorable mention All-American as a freshman and sophomore (and could earn national honors again this year), the West Coast Conference's Player of the Year in 2009, a four-time All-WCC first teamer and was a finalist for the Byron Nelson Award this spring.
"Shooting a 1-under on this course was one of the better rounds of my career," Putnam said. "I just played my normal game. I didn't have a good tournament here my sophomore year and I was fighting some thoughts and some demons the first two rounds. I finally got that under control and was able to swing free and play like I normally play."
Another senior, Andrew Widmar (El Paso, Texas/Cathedral HS), placed second among Pepperdine's players with his tie for 94th at 230 (80-75-75). Widmar, who was 1-under through 14 holes, had three birdies in his final round.
Junior Josh Anderson (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS) tied for 106th at 232 (74-80-78), freshman Parker Page (Louisville, Ky./Ballard HS) tied for 119th at 235 (78-81-76) and sophomore Johnny Mac Arthur (Newhall, Calif./Hart HS) tied for 148th at 248 (81-80-87). Anderson and Page both had two birdies and MacArthur had one on Thursday. Page had his best round of the three days.
Each of the Waves' players were making their NCAA Championships debuts, as Pepperdine was making its first appearance at the finals since 2006 and its eighth overall.
The top eight teams - UCLA, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio State, Augusta State and Duke - advanced to match play, which will be contested Friday through Sunday for the national championship. LSU's John Peterson won the individual title by one stroke.
Team Scores: 1. UCLA 286-288-298=872; 2. Georgia Tech 283-290-302=875; T3. Oklahoma State 292-293-294=879; T3. Illinois 291-287-301=879; 5. Georgia 291-288-305=884; 6. Ohio State 291-299-297=887; 7. Augusta State 294-294-300=888; 8. Duke 303-293-293=889; 9. Texas A&M 289-301-300=890; T10. Iowa 304-292-296=892; T10. Michigan 307-292-293=892; T12. USC 303-289-303=895; T12. Texas 299-301-295=895; 14. Alabama 288-292-316=896; 15. Arkansas 296-298-303=897; T16. San Diego 300-304-294=898; T16. San Diego State 295-301-302=898; 18. Arizona State 303-293-303=899; T19. California 300-299-303=902; T19. Kent State 304-302-296=902; 21. LSU 306-294-305=905; 22. Northwestern 306-296-304=906; 23. Florida 300-299-309=908; 24. Tennessee 308-299-303=910; 25. Pepperdine 309-310-300=919; 26. Kennesaw State 295-312-314=921; 27. North Carolina State 310-308-304=922; 28. Oklahoma 313-304-313=930; 29. Arizona 302-310-321=933; 30. Colorado State 307-322-308=937.
Top Individuals: 1. John Peterson (LSU) 74-65-72=211; 2. Patrick Cantlay (UCLA) 72-69-71=212; T3. Lion Kim (Michigan) 72-70-73=215; T3. Cameron Peck (Texas A&M) 68-74-73=215; T3. Patrick Reed (Augusta State) 69-75-71=215; T3. J.J. Spaun (San Diego State) 69-75-71=215; T3. Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State) 73-69-73=215.
Pepperdine Scores: T38. Andrew Putnam 77-75-71=223; T94. Andrew Widmar 80-75-75=230; T106. Josh Anderson 74-80-78=232; T119. Parker Page 78-81-76=235; T148. Johnny Mac Arthur 81-80-87=248.
Players Mentioned
