FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – The Pepperdine men's golf team concluded the 2019 NCAA Championships with an 11th-place finish on Monday, the program's best result since 2004.
The Waves finished with a four-day total of 1,199 strokes (312-291-293-303) at the par-72 Blessings Golf Club. After starting nationals in 26th place after the first round, they moved up the leaderboard each day, from 17th to 12th and finally to 11th.
Pepperdine made the first cut of 15 teams after Sunday's third round, and ended up just three strokes shy of eighth place, the cutoff to move on to Tuesday's match play rounds.
Pepperdine, the 1997 NCAA champion, was making its 10th appearance at the NCAA Championships. It was the second in three years, and the Waves improved upon their 13th-place showing in 2017.
Joe Highsmith, the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, tied for 24th place to lead the Waves. It's the best-ever finish by a Pepperdine freshman at the NCAA Championships.
Pepperdine, ranked 20th by Golfstat, finished ahead of 14 top-25 teams, including #2 Arizona State, #7 Georgia Tech, #8 Duke and #9 USC.
The future looks bright for the Waves. All five players who were in the lineup today will be back next year, plus a healthy two-time All-American in
Sahith Theegala, in addition to one of the nation's top recruiting classes.
PLAYER SCORES
- Freshman Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) tied for 24th place with a 6-over 294 (76-72-72-74). He had four birdies on Monday, and his last one on the eighth hole gave the Waves sole possession of 11th place, one shot better than Auburn. He had a team-high 14 birdies for the four days.
- Junior Clay Feagler (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) tied for 43rd place at 301 (78-76-73-74). He had two birdies during his final round.
- Sophomore RJ Manke (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Preparatory School) tied for 53rd at 303 (79-70-76-78). His final round included three birdies.
- Junior Joshua McCarthy (Danville, Calif./De La Salle HS) tied for 61st at 305 (79-73-76-77). He had two birdies on Monday.
- Sophomore Austin Murphy (Morgan Hill, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) played his second round after coming in as a sub before Sunday's third round. He shot 72-79 over his two days, and he had two birdies today.
THE NUMBERS
Top 8 Advancing Teams: 1. Oklahoma State 290-276-286-284=1136; 2. Vanderbilt 307-288-287-285=1167; 3. Wake Forest 296-297-288-291=1172; 4. Texas 298-290-289-303=1180; 5. Oklahoma 305-287-288-300=1180; 6. Stanford 291-287-299-312=1189; 7. Texas A&M 296-287-301-308=1192; 8. SMU 308-293-292-303=1196.
Next 7 Non-Advancing Teams: 9. Clemson 302-292-298-304=1196; 10. California 292-301-306-298=1197;
11. Pepperdine 312-291-293-303=1199; 12. Auburn 292-294-312-302=1200; 13. Ohio State 297-296-302-306=1201; 14. USC 304-304-292-302=1202; 15. TCU 311-295-288-311=1205.
First 15 Teams Cut: 16. Arizona State 302-296-303=901; 17. South Carolina 305-299-298=902; 18. Georgia Tech 307-293-303=903; 19. North Carolina 304-300-300=904; T20. Liberty 305-303-298=906; T20. UNLV 310-292-304=906; T22. North Florida 309-297-301=907; T22. LSU 308-302-297=907; 24. Georgia 300-300-311=911; 25. Duke 313-305-294=912; 26. Georgia Southern 308-299-306=913; T27. Baylor 314-295-306=915; T27. Illinois 311-301-303=915; 29. Louisville 313-302-317=932; 30. BYU 322-307-309=938.
Top Individuals: 1. Matthew Wolff (Oklahoma State) 73-66-70-69=278; 2. Steven Fisk (Georgia Southern) 76-68-68-71=283; 3. Chun An Yu (Arizona State) 69-74-70-72=285; T4. Lee Detmer (Wake Forest) 72-74-71-69=286; T4. Justin Suh (USC) 71-75-68-72=286.
Gallery: (5/27/2019) Men's Golf at NCAA Championships Round 4
