MALIBU, California — The Pepperdine men's golf team returns for its second event of the fall season, as the Waves stay in Southern California for their annual trip to The Prestige.

EVENT INFO — The Prestige will be held at the par-71, 7,100-yard Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California. There will be a single round each day between Monday and Wednesday (Feb. 15-17). Live scoring will be available via Golfstat. 

FIELD — In addition to Pepperdine, the 24-team field is scheduled to include Arizona, Arizona State, California, Cal Poly, Colorado, Denver, Iowa State, Long Beach State, Marquette, Nevada, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, Stanford, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, UC Davis, UCLA, USC and Wyoming.

PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup consists of senior RJ Manke (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Preparatory School), senior Joshua McCarthy (Danville, Calif./De La Salle HS), senior Joey Vrzich (El Cajon, Calif./Christian HS/Nevada), sophomore William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) and sophomore Dylan Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS).

TOURNAMENT HISTORY — The Waves have placed second at the Prestige in three of the last four years, matching their best-ever finish at the event. Head coach Michael Beard shared the title at the inaugural event in 2000, while Clay Feagler was medalist in 2018.

INDIVIDUALS — Additionally, four more Waves will take part in the Prestige Individual Tournament, held at the nearby par-72, 7,145-yard Coral Mountain Golf Club. Senior Clay Feagler (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS), junior Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Preparatory School), junior Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) and senior Austin Murphy (Morgan Hill, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory) are entered in the event. There will also be scoring on Golfstat for this tournament.

RANKINGS — The Waves are ranked #1 in the most recent Bushnell Golfweek coaches poll (Jan. 15), #2 in Golfstat (as of Nov. 17) and #12 in Golfweek/Sagarin. Seven Waves are in the top 100 as individuals: Dylan Menante (#4 Golfstat and #15 Golfweek/Sagarin), Joey Vrzich (#25 Golfweek/Sagarin), RJ Manke (#28 Golfweek/Sagarin and #31 Golfstat), Joe Highsmith (#36 Golfstat and #93 Golfweek/Sagarin), Joshua McCarthy (#38 Golfweek/Sagarin and #67 Golfstat), William Mouw (#46 Golfstat and #98 Golfweek/Sagarin) and Austin Murphy (#95 Golfstat).

The Waves ended spring 2020 ranked #1 in the Bushnell Golfweek coaches poll and in the Golfstat computer rankings, and #2 by Golfweek/Sagarin. The Waves had nine players in the Golfweek/Sagarin top 200, eight of whom are returners.

ROSTER — Nine of the 10 Waves who saw action for the nation's #1 team last season have returned, including two of last year's three seniors in Clay Feagler and Joshua McCarthy. Five players who competed at the 2019 NCAA Championships (and an 11th-place finish) are still part of the program. The Waves have back an All-American first team honoree (William Mouw), two WCC medalists (Feagler and RJ Manke), two three-time All-WCC honorees (Feagler and McCarthy) and four who have been all-region honorees (Feagler, McCarthy, Mouw and Joe Highsmith). The 10-man roster breakdown is five seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and one freshman. Mouw and Dylan Menante have both been part of the Haskins Award watch list this season.

EAST LAKE — The exclusive East Lake Cup, held in Atlanta, Ga. (Oct. 26-28) brought together the four highest-ranked teams in the nation from when the season ended in mid-March. After a round of stroke play, the Waves brought home the trophy by beating Texas Tech 3-2 in the semfinals and Oklahoma 4-1 in the championship. Joe Highsmith, Derek Hitchner and Dylan Menante each went 2-0 in match play.

MORE HIGHLIGHTS — Joshua McCarthy won two WCC-only fall events, the Pasadera Collegiate Invitational and the Rustic Collegiate Classic. It's the eighth time in program history (and the fourth year in a row) that a Wave has won twice in one season ... Dylan Menante has a pair of second-place finishes and went 2-0 in match play at the East Lake Cup ... Pepperdine has won three tournaments for the third straight season and the fifth time in program history. The Waves have never won more than three ... Pepperdine's own Southwestern Invitational was televised by the Golf Channel for the first time.

RECORDS WATCH — Five current Waves rank among Pepperdine's top 10 on the all-time scoring list — Joe Highsmith at #3 (71.77), Joshua McCarthy at #4 (71.90), Clay Feagler at #5 (71.96), Derek Hitchner at #6 (72.40) and RJ Manke at #10 (72.67) ... Feagler has three career wins, one off the school record ... McCarthy has played in 154 career rounds and could break Michael Beard's school record of 162.

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 nine 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 25 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.