MALIBU, California – After a successful fall season, the #22 Pepperdine women's golf team begins its spring season with the 10th annual Bruin Wave Invitational, sponsored by the Gifford Foundation and co-hosted with UCLA in San Luis Obispo. Ten of the 15 participating teams are ranked in the top 50.
EVENT INFO – The Bruin Wave Invitational will be held at the par-72, 6,323-yard San Luis Obispo Country Club. There will be two rounds on Monday (Feb. 25) with a shotgun start at 8 a.m., and the third and final round on Tuesday (Feb. 26) via tee times beginning at 7:50 a.m. Live scoring will be available through Golfstat.
FIELD – In addition to co-hosts Pepperdine and UCLA, the 15-team tournament includes Arizona State, California, Cal Poly, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Oregon, San Diego State, San Francisco, Stanford, UC Irvine and Washington.
Top 50 Golfweek/Sagarin ratings for the field are as follows: #3 Stanford, #5 UCLA, #15 Northwestern, #16 Arizona State, #21 Washington, #24 Pepperdine, #35 California, #36 Oregon, #45 Ole Miss and #47 San Diego State.
Five of Golfweek/Sagarin's top six players in the country hail from schools in this tournament: #1 Patty Tavatanakit (UCLA), #2 Albane Valenzuela (Stanford), #3 Andrea Lee (Stanford), #4 Mariel Galdiano (UCLA) and #6
Hira Naveed (Pepperdine).
PEPPERDINE LINEUP – The Waves' lineup consists of senior
Hira Naveed (Perth, Australia), junior
Momoka Kobori (Rangiora, New Zealand), freshman
Kathrine Chan (Richmond, B.C., Canada), senior
Hannah Haythorne (Honolulu, Hawai'i) and senior
Patricia Wong (Walnut, Calif.). Freshman
Sifan He (Shanghai, China) will compete as an individual.
RANKINGS – The Waves are #22 in the WGCA coaches poll, #24 by Golfweek/Sagarin and #25 by Golfstat ...
Hira Naveed is #4 by Golfstat and #6 by Golfweek/Sagarin ...
Momoka Kobori is #82 by Golfweek/Sagarin and #99 by Golfstat.
EVENT HISTORY – Pepperdine won the 2012 Bruin Wave Invitational and finished second in 2014 and third in 2011. Last year, the Waves were eighth. Danielle Kang was the medalist at the inaugural event in 2010.
ROSTER – Pepperdine has four veterans (three seniors and one junior) joined by two freshmen.
Hira Naveed (2016, 2017, 2018),
Momoka Kobori (2018) and
Patricia Wong (2016) have all earned All-WCC honors in their careers, and the three were named to the preseason All-WCC team this year.
NAVEED – Hira Naveed is halfway through a senior year to remember. She's the first Wave ever to win two fall tournaments, capturing the season-opening Dick McGuire Invitational for her first career victory, and she was then co-medalist at the final fall tournament, the Stanford Intercollegiate. She's been named to the ANNIKA Award Watch List and ranks #2 on the most recent Arnold Palmer Cup listing for international women. She was named WCC Player of the Month for both September and October. Naveed finished no worse than seventh in the four fall tournaments and is averaging 70.17 strokes. She now ranks fifth all-time in scoring average (73.82) at Pepperdine. In February, she returned home briefly after receiving an exemption to play in the LPGA's Women's Australian Open.
MORE 2018-19 HIGHLIGHTS – The Waves began the season with three top-three team finishes for only the third time in program history, and for the first time since fall 2009.
PEPPERDINE GOLF – Under the direction of
Laurie Gibbs, who is now in her 26th 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. Under her leadership, the Waves have appeared in the NCAA Championships 12 times in the last 20 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 21 years, including a streak of 14 titles that ran from 2002 to 2015.
ONLINE — Follow the Pepperdine women's golf team on Twitter (@WavesGolf), Facebook (/WavesGolf) and Instagram (pepperdinewomensgolf).
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.
