Waves Play at SDSU March Mayhem
3/25/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
MALIBU, California — Two events remain prior to the West Coast Conference Championships for the Pepperdine women's golf team, and one starts tomorrow at San Diego State's March Mayhem, which is primarily a match-play event.
EVENT INFO — The SDSU March Mayhem will be held at the par-72, 6,237-yard Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California. The tournament format features one round of stroke play on Monday morning, followed by match play on Monday afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday (March 26-28). Live scoring will be available on BirdieFire.
FIELD — In addition to Pepperdine, the 12-team field also includes host San Diego State, Baylor, BYU, California, Colorado, Iowa State, Northwestern, Stanford, Texas, UCLA and USC.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup includes senior Tatiana Wijaya (Jakarta, Indonesia), sophomore Momoka Kobori (Rangiora, New Zealand), junior Hira Naveed (Perth, Australia), junior Hannah Haythorne (Honolulu, Hawai'i/IMG Academy) and junior Patricia Wong (Walnut, Calif./Walnut HS).
RANKINGS — The Waves are rated 49th nationally by Golfstat and 54th by Golfweek/Sagarin.
EVENT HISTORY — This is Pepperdine's fourth time playing in this event. The Waves finished third in both 2013 (when it was a stroke-play tournament known as the Farms Invitational) and in 2017 (when it was match play). Patricia Wong led the Waves last year, winning three of her four matches.
ROSTER — Led by 25th-year head coach Laurie Gibbs, the seven-player breakdown is two seniors, three juniors, one sophomore and one freshman. There are six returning letterwinners (five with multiple seasons of experience), including all five that finished second at the 2017 WCC Championships, third at the NCAA Albuquerque Regional and 23rd at the NCAA Championships.
HONORS — Four Waves have earned All-WCC first team honors in their careers, led by two-time selections Hira Naveed (2016, 2017) and Tatiana Wijaya (2015, 2017). Patricia Wong (2016) and Katherine Zhu (2017) have each made it once. Wijaya (2015) and Kobori (2017) are past WCC Freshmen of the Year. Zhu is a three-time WGCA All-American Scholar and a two-time WCC All-Academic first team honoree.
NUMBERS — Three Waves currently rank in the school's top 20 for career scoring average: Hira Naveed (#6 at 74.26), Tatiana Wijaya (#12 at 75.55) and Patricia Wong (#17 at 75.78) ... Wijaya is tied for seventh place in career below-par rounds (18).
SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS — Tatiana Wijaya played in the 2017 U.S. Women's Amateur and advanced to match play ... Wijaya also represented her native Indonesia at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, where she earned a silver medal ... Hira Naveed tied for eighth at the Canadian Women's Amateur Championship ... Momoka Kobori had a tie for seventh place at the Canadian Junior Girls Championship.
GIBBS — Under the direction of Laurie Gibbs, who is now in her 25th season as head coach, Pepperdine has earned a place as one of the nation's top golf programs. Gibbs has been honored 12 times as the WCC's Coach of the Year, was tabbed the West Region Coach of the Year on two occasions and was selected the 2004-05 National Coach of the Year by Golfweek magazine. Gibbs was inducted into the WGCA Coaches Hall of Fame in December 2015. Last season's victory at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate was the 50th tournament win of her career.
GOLF HISTORY — The Waves have appeared in the NCAA Championships 12 times in the last 19 years, and have recorded eight top-10 finishes and four top-five showings, including a program-best second-place result in 2003. The Waves have won West Coast Conference championships in 17 of the last 20 years, including a streak of 14 titles that ran from 2002 to 2015. Twelve different players have earned All-American honors a total of 27 times. LPGA Tour players have included Katherine (Hull) Kirk, Lindsey Wright, Tamie Durdin, Nadina (Taylor) Light, Misun Cho, Carolina Llano, Danielle Kang, Taylore Karle and Grace Na. Hull was the 2003 National Player of the Year and was inducted into the WGCA Hall of Fame in 2012. Kang won back-to-back U.S. Amateur Championships in 2010 and 2011.
ONLINE — Follow the Pepperdine women's golf team on Twitter (@WavesGolf) and on Facebook (/WavesGolf).
ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 18 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 25 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, California, the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #46 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
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