SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – After beating Florida State and Oklahoma State on Tuesday, the Pepperdine men's golf team will play for a national championship on Wednesday.
On a grueling, 100-degree day at Grayhawk Golf Club, the Waves bested the Seminoles 3-1-1 in a morning quarterfinal and then returned to the course to beat the Cowboys 3-0-2 in an afternoon semifinal.
Clay Feagler put the first point on the board in both matches (and had a match-changing hole-in-one in the afternoon) and
Joe Highsmith had the clinching point twice.
Pepperdine, the 1997 national champion, is competing at the NCAA finals for the 11th time in program history, and for the third time in the last four tournaments. This is Pepperdine's first-ever appearance in match play.
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Pepperdine will face Oklahoma in the national championship match on Wednesday afternoon beginning at 1:35 p.m. The two teams squared off in match play in the final of the East Lake Cup in October, with the Waves winning 4-1.
The matchup brings fitting closure to the 2020 season, which ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pepperdine and Oklahoma were the top two teams in the country at the time.
In the stroke play portion of the championship, Pepperdine was third and Oklahoma was fourth.
Golf Channel will have live coverage from 2-6 p.m.
SEMIFINAL VS. OKLAHOMA STATE (3-0-2)
- Clay Feagler (PEPP) def. Austin Eckroat (OSU) 2&1 – Feagler was 2-down after seven holes but a hole-in-one on number 8 sparked a remarkable turnaround. Feagler won five consecutive holes to go from 2-down to 3-up after 12. He eventually closed it out on 17.
- Dylan Menante (PEPP) def. Brian Stark (OSU) 3&2 – Menante never trailed and took the lead for good after winning on holes 4 and 5. He built a three-hole lead a few times and won it on 16.
- Joe Highsmith (PEPP) def. Aman Gupta (OSU) 1 up – Highsmith won the first hole and never trailed, but it was close throughout. He never went up by more than two holes. Gupta got it back to a one-hole lead after 16, but Highsmith was able to halve 17 and 18 (with an incredible shot out of the bunker and onto the green) to earn the point and send Pepperdine to the championship.
- Joey Vrzich (PEPP) vs. Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (OSU) tied after 16 – The two players went back-and-forth, with Vrzich taking an early lead, then Lopez-Chacarra rallying mid-round for a one-hole lead, and then Vrzich taking it back on 12. OSU evened it up on 16 and the match was abandoned after Pepperdine clinched.
- William Mouw (PEPP) vs. Bo Jin (OSU) tied after 15 – Mouw made a big comeback, as he was down by three after 11 but he won on 12, 13 and 14 to tie it up. The match also wasn't played to completion.
QUARTERFINAL VS. FLORIDA STATE (3-1-1)
- Clay Feagler (PEPP) def. Vincent Norrman (FSU) 6&4 – Feagler only dropped one hole in a dominating win. Starting on 10, he won holes 12, 14 and 15 to go 3-up. Norrmann made it 2-up after 16 but Feagler won 17 to go back up by three. He ended the match with wins on 2, 3 and 5.
- Joey Vrzich (PEPP) def. Brett Roberts (FSU) 4&3 – Vrzich built a three-hole lead after seven holes. It went down to two at the turn, but he went back up three on 4, and won it on 6.
- Joe Highsmith (PEPP) def. Cole Anderson (FSU) 2&1 – Highsmith led by one or two holes for nearly the entirety of the match. He was 1-up with two to play and on hole number 8, he chipped in to win his match and send the Waves to the semifinals.
- John Pak (FSU) def. William Mouw (PEPP) 1 up – The match didn't reach 18 holes after Pepperdine clinched, and since Pak was in the lead, he was awarded the victory.
- Dylan Menante (PEPP) vs. Frederik Kjettrup (FSU) tied after 20 – Menante was 2-down with three to play but won holes 7 and 8 to even things up. He and Kjettrup went extra holes but didn't find a winner before play was halted.
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Pepperdine Coach
Michael Beard said: "It shows our guys' mental toughness to stay in it. It's easy to be distracted by all the outside stuff, it's hot, there's 36 holes, it's tight, and you're grinding on every putt. It could be easy to have a mental break. But our guys kept pushing. Everything was close today. It never felt comfortable. Clay's performance today was ridiculous, beating a couple of great players and All-Americans. I'm so proud of him. Everyone played great but for Clay to come through the way he did, he should feel pretty good right now. We won't tell our guys to do anything different, we've just go out and keep playing and executing tomorrow."
