Sunday, September 19
Madison, Wis.
Pepperdine University
at
Badger Invitational
Lion Higo
Photo by: Roger Horne
Women's Golf Heads to Badger Invitational
9/17/2021 9:49:00 AM | Women's Golf
MALIBU, California — After a great start to the season that saw Kaleiya Romero win her first college tournament, the Pepperdine women's golf team gets back into action quickly at the upcoming Badger Invitational in Wisconsin. This is the second of three tournaments in a three-week span to open the school year.
EVENT INFO — The Badger Invitational will be held at the par-72, 6,302-yard University Ridge Golf Course, located in Fitchburg, Wis. It's a three-day event with 18 holes each day between Sunday and Tuesday (Sept. 19-21). There will be live scoring on Golfstat.
FIELD — In addition to Pepperdine, the 12-team field includes host Wisconsin, Colorado State, Grand Canyon, Indiana, Iowa, Notre Dame, Old Dominion, Rutgers, SMU, UC Davis and Washington State.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup consists of sophomore Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.), freshman Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.), sophomore Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia), junior Reese Guzman (Kahului, Hawai'i) and graduate student Megan Dennis (Bedfordshire, United Kingdom). Freshman Milla Sagel (Bielefeld, Germany) will compete as an individual.
EVENT HISTORY — This is Pepperdine's first trip to the Badger Invitational, which is being held for the first time since 2011.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS — Kaleiya Romero won the season-opening Dick McGuire Invitational for her first college victory. She shot a 10-under 206, tying the fourth-best score in program history, and defeated BYU's Lila Galeai on the first hole of a playoff.
WCC — In a remarkably close WCC preseason coaches poll, Pepperdine and Gonzaga tied for the top spot while BYU finished just one point behind ... Reese Guzman and Lion Higo made the preseason All-WCC team.
ROSTER — Pepperdine has five golfers back from last season (one graduate student, one senior, one junior and two sophomores) and has added three freshmen. Megan Dennis utilized a COVID-19 redshirt year to come back for an extra year of competition.
2020-21 RECAP — The Waves only played in the spring during the COVID-19-shortened season. Among the returners, Reese Guzman, Lion Higo and Kaleiya Romero received All-WCC first team honors. Romero was also a WGCA All-American Scholar. Pepperdine fell in a playoff at the WCC Championships, then outplayed its #13 seed at the NCAA Stanford Regional, finishing eighth.
GIBBS — Under the direction of Laurie Gibbs, who is now in her 29th season as head coach, Pepperdine has earned a place as one of the nation's top golf programs. Gibbs has been honored 13 times as the WCC's Coach of the Year, was tabbed the West Region Coach of the Year on two occasions and was selected the 2004-05 National Coach of the Year by Golfweek magazine. Gibbs was inducted into the WGCA Coaches Hall of Fame in December 2015. The Waves have won 52 tournaments in her career.
GOLF HISTORY — The Waves have qualified for 12 of the last 22 NCAA Championships, and have recorded eight top-10 finishes and four top-five showings, including a program-best second-place result in 2003. The Waves have won West Coast Conference championships in 18 of the 24 tournaments ever held, including a streak of 14 titles that ran from 2002 to 2015. Fourteen different players have earned All-American honors a total of 30 times. LPGA Tour players have included Katherine (Hull) Kirk, Lindsey Wright, Tamie Durdin, Nadina (Taylor) Light, Misun Cho, Carolina Llano, Danielle Kang, Taylore Karle and Grace Na. Hull was the 2003 National Player of the Year and was inducted into the WGCA Hall of Fame in 2012. Kang won back-to-back U.S. Amateur Championships in 2010 and 2011 and was a U.S. Olympian in 2021.
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.
EVENT INFO — The Badger Invitational will be held at the par-72, 6,302-yard University Ridge Golf Course, located in Fitchburg, Wis. It's a three-day event with 18 holes each day between Sunday and Tuesday (Sept. 19-21). There will be live scoring on Golfstat.
FIELD — In addition to Pepperdine, the 12-team field includes host Wisconsin, Colorado State, Grand Canyon, Indiana, Iowa, Notre Dame, Old Dominion, Rutgers, SMU, UC Davis and Washington State.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup consists of sophomore Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.), freshman Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.), sophomore Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia), junior Reese Guzman (Kahului, Hawai'i) and graduate student Megan Dennis (Bedfordshire, United Kingdom). Freshman Milla Sagel (Bielefeld, Germany) will compete as an individual.
EVENT HISTORY — This is Pepperdine's first trip to the Badger Invitational, which is being held for the first time since 2011.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS — Kaleiya Romero won the season-opening Dick McGuire Invitational for her first college victory. She shot a 10-under 206, tying the fourth-best score in program history, and defeated BYU's Lila Galeai on the first hole of a playoff.
WCC — In a remarkably close WCC preseason coaches poll, Pepperdine and Gonzaga tied for the top spot while BYU finished just one point behind ... Reese Guzman and Lion Higo made the preseason All-WCC team.
ROSTER — Pepperdine has five golfers back from last season (one graduate student, one senior, one junior and two sophomores) and has added three freshmen. Megan Dennis utilized a COVID-19 redshirt year to come back for an extra year of competition.
2020-21 RECAP — The Waves only played in the spring during the COVID-19-shortened season. Among the returners, Reese Guzman, Lion Higo and Kaleiya Romero received All-WCC first team honors. Romero was also a WGCA All-American Scholar. Pepperdine fell in a playoff at the WCC Championships, then outplayed its #13 seed at the NCAA Stanford Regional, finishing eighth.
GIBBS — Under the direction of Laurie Gibbs, who is now in her 29th season as head coach, Pepperdine has earned a place as one of the nation's top golf programs. Gibbs has been honored 13 times as the WCC's Coach of the Year, was tabbed the West Region Coach of the Year on two occasions and was selected the 2004-05 National Coach of the Year by Golfweek magazine. Gibbs was inducted into the WGCA Coaches Hall of Fame in December 2015. The Waves have won 52 tournaments in her career.
GOLF HISTORY — The Waves have qualified for 12 of the last 22 NCAA Championships, and have recorded eight top-10 finishes and four top-five showings, including a program-best second-place result in 2003. The Waves have won West Coast Conference championships in 18 of the 24 tournaments ever held, including a streak of 14 titles that ran from 2002 to 2015. Fourteen different players have earned All-American honors a total of 30 times. LPGA Tour players have included Katherine (Hull) Kirk, Lindsey Wright, Tamie Durdin, Nadina (Taylor) Light, Misun Cho, Carolina Llano, Danielle Kang, Taylore Karle and Grace Na. Hull was the 2003 National Player of the Year and was inducted into the WGCA Hall of Fame in 2012. Kang won back-to-back U.S. Amateur Championships in 2010 and 2011 and was a U.S. Olympian in 2021.
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.
Players Mentioned
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