MALIBU, California — The defending NCAA champion and #2-ranked Pepperdine men's golf team continues the spring season with its annual trip out 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 18 holes of golf each day between Monday and Wednesday (Feb. 21-23). Live scoring will be available via Golfstat.

FIELD — In addition to Pepperdine, the 30-team field includes co-hosts UC Davis and Stanford, Cal Poly, Colorado State, Denver, Fairleigh Dickinson, Fraser Valley, Iowa State, Kansas, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, LSU, North Texas, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Princeton, San Diego State, San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Washington.

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

An individual tournament will be held at nearby Coral Mountain Golf Club. Freshman Ian Maspat (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch HS) will compete in that event.

EVENT HISTORY — The Waves have never won The Prestige, but they've been close, with five consecutive second or third-place finishes. Pepperdine has four second-place results in 20 trips to the event. Head coach Michael Beard was co-medalist at the inaugural event in 2000, and Clay Feagler won it in 2018.

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 #2 by Golfweek/Sagarin, #4 in the coaches poll and #5 by Golfstat.

Golfweek/Sagarin rankings (as of 2/17): Highsmith #12, Vrzich #30, Hitchner #42, Menante #68.

Golfstat rankings (as of 2/15): Vrzich #44, Hitchner #66, Highsmith #70, Menante #99.

PGA Tour University rankings (as of 2/16): Highsmith #11, Vrzich #16, Hitchner #28.

World Amateur Golf Ranking (as of 1/26): Highsmith #15, Menante #18, Vrzich #33, Hitchner #67, Mouw #77.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS — The Waves won the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate in October by four shots with a score of 42-under, the fifth-best score in team history. Joe Highsmith won his second college title with a 19-under 197, good for the third-best score in program history ... The Waves competed at the prestigious East Lake Cup for the second straight year. They won the single round of stroke play, lost to Oklahoma in the opening round of match play (a rematch of the 2020 East Lake Cup final and the 2021 national championship, both won by the Waves), but defeated Arizona State for third place ... Pepperdine began the spring by shooting 17-under at its own Southwestern Invitational, a score that would be good enough to win in almost any year, but Arizona State had a record 30-under and the Waves finished second.

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 eight on the all-time scoring list — Joey Vrzich at #1 (70.47), Dylan Menante at #3 (70.97), William Mouw at #4 (71.15), Joe Highsmith at #5 (71.28) and Derek Hitchner at #8 (71.84) ... Highsmith is sixth in career below-par rounds (54).

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.