Waves Win Stroke Play Round at East Lake Cup

Monday, October 25

Atlanta, Ga.

Pepperdine University

East Lake Cup

Joe Highsmith

Photo by: Roger Horne

10/25/2021 5:54:00 PM | Men's Golf

Results Quotes

By: by Athletic Communications

ATLANTA, Georgia – The Pepperdine men's golf team kept up its strong run of play in Georgia on Monday, winning the single round of stroke play at the East Lake Cup.

The prestigious event brings together the top four teams from the previous season to the East Lake Golf Club. Pepperdine will face Oklahoma in Tuesday's match play semifinals – a rematch of both the final at the 2020 East Lake Cup and the 2021 NCAA Championship, which were both won by the Waves.

Pepperdine shot a 5-under 283, beating Arizona State (287) by four and Oklahoma State and Oklahoma (each at 292) by nine.

After winning the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate on Sunday, this was the fourth consecutive day of competitive golf for the Waves (Pepperdine is at a combined 47-under over the past four days).

PLAYER SCORES

Senior Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep), coming off an individual win at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, continued his excellent play with a 3-under 69, good for third place and just one shot behind the leaders. He had five birdies on the day, including three of the final five holes (14, 17 and 18). This was the 50th below-par round of his Pepperdine career, which ranks seventh in program history.
Senior Joey Vrzich (El Cajon, Calif./Christian HS/Nevada) tied for fifth with a 1-under 71. He had four birdies, two on the front nine and two on the back nine.
Senior Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) also tied for fifth with a 1-under 71. He had five birdies on Monday, three coming on the front nine.
Junior Dylan Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS) tied for eighth with an even-par 72. He had five birdies, three on the back nine, including one on 18.
Junior William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) tied for 15th after a 76.

UP NEXT

The first semifinal, which pits Arizona State and Oklahoma State, begins at 11:05 a.m. ET / 8:05 a.m. PT. The Pepperdine-Oklahoma semifinal starts at 12:45 p.m. ET / 9:45 a.m. PT. There will be live Golf Channel coverage between 12-3 p.m. PT.

Semifinal matchups: Dylan Menante (PEPP) vs. Chris Gotterup (OU) 12:45 p.m. ET; William Mouw (PEPP) vs. Stephen Campbell Jr. (OU) 1:05 p.m. ET; Joey Vrzich (PEPP) vs. Jaxon Dowell (OU) 1:25 p.m. ET; Joe Highsmith (PEPP) vs. Logan McAllister (OU) 1:45 p.m. ET; Derek Hitchner (PEPP) vs. Drew Goodman (OU) 2:05 p.m. ET.

The Waves have back four of the five players that beat the Sooners in the NCAA final, while Oklahoma has just one player competing from the championship match.

QUOTABLE

Pepperdine Coach Michael Beard said: "They all played pretty well. I thought it played tough today: rough, wind. But I felt like they kept it in front of them really well, and the speed of the greens were maybe a little bit different than what we were used to. We obviously didn't get a practice round yesterday to maybe get a sense for it. They're really good players, so they figure out how to adapt pretty quickly."

Joe Highsmith said: "I think my game has just been kind of clicking along. I had a pretty good summer and then had kind of a fluky event at Olympia Fields, but then played pretty well at Colonial and then just kind of did more of the same at Georgia. It's really just a matter of kind of staying into it and really focusing on just a few more shots per round. That really makes a world of difference, so I'm just trying to keep on doing that."

THE NUMBERS

Team Scores: 1. Pepperdine 283; 2. Arizona State 287; T3. Oklahoma State 292; T3. Oklahoma 292.

Top Individuals: T1. Chris Gotterup (Oklahoma) 68; T1. Preston Summerhays (Arizona State) 68; 3. Joe Highsmith (Pepperdine) 69; 4. Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Oklahoma State) 70; T5. Joey Vrzich (Pepperdine) 71; T5. Derek Hitchner (Pepperdine) 71; T5. Stephen Campbell Jr. (Oklahoma) 71.