Men's Golf Finishes Third at The Prestige

Wednesday, February 20

La Quinta, Calif.

All Day

Pepperdine University

The Prestige

Joe Highsmith

Photo by: Ron Hall

2/20/2019 5:24:00 PM | Men's Golf

Results

By: by Athletic Communications

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Led by top-10 finishes by Joshua McCarthy and Joe Highsmith, the Pepperdine men's golf team turned in a solid third-place showing at The Prestige, its first tournament of the spring season, on Wednesday.

The Waves finished with a three-day total of a 5-over 857 (289-281-287) at the par-71 Greg Norman Course at PGA West. The 14th-ranked Waves finished only behind #16 LSU (838) and #1 Oklahoma State (844) while beating six top-50 teams, including Pac-12 schools UCLA, Oregon and Stanford.

In six tournaments in the 2018-19 school year, the Waves have finished first twice, third three times and no worse than fifth.

"The guys did well," Pepperdine Coach Michael Beard said. "After we finished the first round, the goal was to get into the final pairing, which we did. We didn't get off to a great start today, and we knew we needed one. The wind direction was completely opposite so some of the holes played a lot tougher than the first two days. We didn't play badly, it just wasn't the start we were looking for. For the first tournament of the spring, I think this is something we can learn from and continue to get better."

PLAYER SCORES

Junior Joshua McCarthy (Danville, Calif./De La Salle HS) turned in his fifth top-10 result in six tournaments, as he moved up to fifth place with a 4-under 209 (71-70-68). He was 1-over after 11 holes today, but then eagled the 12th and added birdies on 14 and 16 to get to 3-under on the day. He had a team-best 13 birdies for the tournament, tied for third most in the field.
Freshman Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) posted his second top-10 of the season after recording his second straight 1-under 70 to finish tied for eighth with a 1-under 212 (72-70-70). He had four birdies today, three of which came in a four-hole stretch between five and eight.
Junior Clay Feagler (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) got his fifth top-20 finish in six tournaments as he tied for 19th at 218 (73-71-74).
Freshman Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) tied for 33rd at 221 (73-73-75).
Senior Roy Cootes (Rolling Hills, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) tied for 55th at 226 (76-70-80).

UP NEXT

Pepperdine hosts the Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, California, next Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 25-26).

THE NUMBERS

Team Scores: 1. LSU 279-280-279=838; 2. Oklahoma State 278-284-282=844; 3. Pepperdine 289-281-287=857; 4. UCLA 286-285-295=866; 5. Oregon 290-284-295=869; T6. Iowa State 302-299-275=876; T6. Stanford 291-294-291=876; 8. Arkansas 300-295-288=883; 9. Northwestern 301-290-293=884; T10. Stirling 296-299-293=888; T10. East Tennessee State 297-296-295=888; 12. Notre Dame 297-299-294=890; 13. Stanford "B" 291-293-308=892; 14. Utah 291-302-304=897; 15. UC Davis 303-291-304=898; 16. San Diego State 305-298-296=899.

Top Individuals: 1. Viktor Hovland (Oklahoma State) 68-71-66=205; 2. Brandon Wu (Stanford) 65-70-71=206; T3. Phillip Barbaree (LSU) 73-69-66=208; T3. Austin Eckroat (Oklahoma State) 68-70-70=208; 5. Joshua McCarthy (Pepperdine) 71-70-68=209.