MALIBU, California — The defending NCAA champion and #11-ranked Pepperdine men's golf team closes out the fall with back-to-back events in Georgia. The Waves will first play at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, and then they'll attempt to defend their title at the prestigious East Lake Cup. It'll be six straight days of golf for the Waves beginning on Friday.

GOLF CLUB OF GEORGIA COLLEGIATE

EVENT INFO — The Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate will be held at the par-72, 7,092-yard Lakeside Course at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga. There will be 18 holes of golf each day between Friday and Sunday (Oct. 22-24). Live scoring will be available via Golfstat. 

FIELD — In addition to Pepperdine, the 14-team field includes host Georgia Tech, Clemson, Colorado State, Duke, East Tennessee State, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas A&M, TCU, UCLA, USC, Virginia and Wake Forest.

EVENT HISTORY — Pepperdine made its first appearance at this tournament in 2019 and placed second, two shots behind Duke. Two current Waves were in the lineup as William Mouw tied for 11th and Joe Highsmith tied for 19th.

EAST LAKE CUP

EVENT INFO — The East Lake Cup will be held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga. There will be a round of stroke play on Monday (Oct. 25), followed by two days of match play on Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 26-27). The Golf Channel will have live coverage each day from 12-3 p.m. PT. 

FIELD — The event brings back together the final four teams from the 2021 NCAA Championships: champion Pepperdine, runner-up Oklahoma and semifinalists Arizona State and Oklahoma State.

EVENT HISTORY — Pepperdine took part in the East Lake Cup for the first time in 2020. After finishing second in the single round of stroke play, the Waves beat Texas Tech 3-2 and Oklahoma 4-1 for the title. The 2021 lineup will feature four of the five players who won last year's East Lake Cup championship. 

PEPPERDINE LINEUP — Pepperdine's lineup consists of seniors Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Preparatory School), Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) and Joey Vrzich (El Cajon, Calif./Christian HS/Nevada) and juniors Dylan Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS) and William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS).

Vrzich didn't compete at last year's East Lake Cup. Highsmith, Hitchner and Menante all went 2-0 in match play.

RANKINGS — The Waves were picked as the nation's #1 team in the preseason in the Bushnell Golfweek coaches poll, and in Golf Channel's season preview. The Waves are currently #11 in the coaches poll, #11 by Golfweek/Sagarin and #17 by Golfstat.

Golf Channel's preseason top 40 players: Menante 12th, Mouw 14th, Highsmith 22nd, Vrzich 33rd.

Golfweek/Sagarin rankings: Vrzich 45th, Hitchner 48th, Highsmith 96th.

Golfstat rankings: Hitchner 81st, Vrzich 82nd.

PGA Tour University rankings: Highsmith 13th, Vrzich 15th, Hitchner 29th.

World Amateur Golf Ranking: Menante 17th, Highsmith 26th, Vrzich 28th, Mouw 56th, Hitchner 93rd.

2021-22 HONORS — Dylan Menante and William Mouw were named to the Haskins Award preseason watch list ... The Waves took up five of the 10 spots on the preseason All-WCC team with Menante, Mouw, Joe Highsmith, Derek Hitchner and Joey Vrzich ... The Waves are the unanimous favorite to win the WCC title again in the preseason vote of the coaches.

RECORDS WATCH — Five current Waves rank among Pepperdine's top nine on the all-time scoring list — Joey Vrzich at #1 (70.46), Dylan Menante at #3 (71.02), William Mouw at #4 (71.15), Joe Highsmith at #5 (71.45) and Derek Hitchner at #9 (71.98) ... Highsmith is tied for seventh in career below-par rounds (46).

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 10 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 26 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 #49 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.