ATLANTA, Georgia – Golf Channel commentators called the matchup a potential preview of the 2021 NCAA Championships, and the Pepperdine men's golf team certainly hopes so as the Waves won the prestigious East Lake Cup with a 4-1 victory over Oklahoma on Wednesday.
Today's match featured the top two teams in the country from when the 2020 season was cut short in March. Pepperdine was the #1-ranked team in the Bushnell Golfweek coaches poll and in the Golfstat computer rankings, while Oklahoma was #1 in Golfweek/Sagarin.
The Waves jumped on top early and never trailed in any of their four victories over the Sooners.
The East Lake Cup brought together the top four teams from last season's final national rankings. Based on the NCAA Championships format, there was a single round of stroke play on Monday before two days of match play. The Waves beat Texas Tech 3-2 in the semifinals.
SCORES
- Derek Hitchner (Pepperdine) defeated Logan McAllister (Oklahoma), 3&2
- Joe Highsmith (Pepperdine) defeated Patrick Welch (Oklahoma), 5&4
- Jonathan Brightwell (Oklahoma) defeated William Mouw (Pepperdine), 2&1
- RJ Manke (Pepperdine) defeated Quade Cummins (Oklahoma), 2&1
- Dylan Menante (Pepperdine) defeated Garett Reband (Oklahoma), 5&4
MATCH DETAILS
- Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Preparatory School) went out second but picked up the first point of the day with his second consecutive dominant victory. Highsmith never trailed in 29 holes of match play over the two days and was ahead after 27 of them. Today, he won on holes 3, 6 and 8 to go 3-up at the turn. The Sooners' Welch won his only hole of the day on 10, but Highsmith came back and won holes 11, 12 and 13 before halving 14 to end it.
- Like Highsmith, Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) never trailed either day. Over 30 holes, he was ahead after 28 of them. Today, he won on holes 3, 4 and 7 to go 3-up. The lead fluctuated between two and three the rest of the way and he won it on 16.
- Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) was locked in a tight match with Oklahoma's Brightwell. Mouw led by one early, fell behind by two later on and tied it by winning holes 11 and 13. But Brightwell got the Sooners their only point by winning holes 15 and 16.
- Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS) was the clinching point from the anchor position both on Tuesday and Wednesday. He jumped out to a big lead quickly, winning holes 1, 4, 5 and 7 to go 4-up. The Sooners' Reband won his only hole of the day on 8 to cut it to three. It stayed that way until holes 13 and 14, and Menante won both to clinch the East Lake Cup victory.
- Manke (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) tacked on the fourth point just after Menante's win. He took the lead on the fourth hole and never trailed. He went 3-up after the 10th hole, but Cummins cut the lead back to one after the 13th hole. Manke won 15 to go back up by two, then halved 16 and 17 to post the victory.
QUOTABLE
Pepperdine Coach
Michael Beard said: "Oklahoma's extremely talented and very good, so for us to be able to come here all the way across the country and play against three of the best teams around, it's really impressive and I'm so proud of our guys ... The match play component, I think to be able to know that we can win, I think this is going to go a long way not only for our team but for the individual guys. That's what's really going to be valuable for us going forward."
Dylan Menante said: "It felt great. I don't know, I just proved to myself that obviously I'm good enough to be a part of this team, that we're good enough to be No. 1. The anchor position might be the hardest, but it's great to come through for your team ... It gives us a lot of momentum. It proves to us that we can still be No. 1 or a top-five school in the country and that we're good enough and that we can compete with anyone no matter who's on the team."
Joe Highsmith said: "Coach has done a really good job helping us with just kind of an overall mentality of making sure that we're staying aggressive and committed and not being fearful on the golf course. It's kind of a big thing that we stand for at Pepperdine. So that kind of mindset out here has really worked well."
Derek Hitchner said: "It's awesome. This is my first time here and the place is unbelievable. Just such a cool tournament experience."
UP NEXT
The Waves' fall season will conclude locally next week with the Rustic Collegiate Classic, another five-team West Coast Conference event set for Rustic Canyon Golf Course in Moorpark on November 5-6.
