ATLANTA, Georgia – RJ Manke's 3-under 69 helped the Pepperdine men's golf team to a second-place showing in Monday's round of stroke play at the prestigious East Lake Cup, setting up a match play semifinal between the Waves and Texas Tech.
The East Lake Cup features the top four teams in the national rankings from when the season ended in mid-March. Oklahoma won the single round of stroke play at the par-72 East Lake Golf Club with a 278. Pepperdine finished seven shots back with a 3-under 285. The Waves were one shot better than Texas Tech (286) and three ahead of Texas (288).
PLAYER SCORES
- Senior RJ Manke (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) tied for second place in the individual standings with his 3-under 69, two shots behind the winner. He had three birdies in his first six holes and finished with six on the day, including one on 18.
- Junior Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) tied for seventh place with a 1-under 71. He had four birdies, two on the front nine and two on the back nine.
- Sophomore Dylan Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS) also tied for seventh with a 1-under 71. He had two early birdies and was 1-under at the turn. After going to 1-over he birdied 14 and 17 to get back to under par.
- Junior Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Preparatory School) tied for 15th with a 74. He had three birdies on the day.
- Sophomore William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) also tied for 15th with a 74. He had three birdies and chipped in for eagle on 14.
UP NEXT
The round of stroke play set the match play pairings, so the second-seeded Waves will meet third-seeded Texas Tech on Tuesday. They'll start at 9:50 a.m. PT. The Oklahoma-Texas semifinal begins at 8:10 a.m. PT. Golf Channel live coverage will run from 12 to 3 p.m. PT.
QUOTABLE
Pepperdine Coach
Michael Beard said: "Guys played great at times and then we had some hiccups there a couple times as well. I think knowing there in the last three or four holes that it was going to be tough to get that 1 seed, so guys clutched up and getting that 2 seed was great."
RJ Manke said: "It's really cool to be able to come out and play a course that I've seen on TV so often. The rough is thick out here, you've got hit fairways and hit the greens ... When I put myself out of position, I had good recovery shots, made some good par saves. Then yeah, just had a lot of good putts, made the birdie opportunities and a couple par saves, it was nice."
THE NUMBERS
Team Scores: 1. Oklahoma 278;
2. Pepperdine 285; 3. Texas Tech 286; 4. Texas 288.
Top Individuals: 1. Patrick Welch (Oklahoma) 67;
T2. RJ Manke (Pepperdine) 69; T2. Quade Cummins (Oklahoma) 69; T4. Garrett Martin (Texas Tech) 70; T4. Travis Vick (Texas) 70; T4. Jonathan Brightwell (Oklahoma) 70.
