SANTA CRUZ, California – The Pepperdine men's golf team has begun defense of its 2021 Western Intercollegiate title with the lead, though the Waves were unable to complete Monday's first round before darkness set in.
Facing bitter cold and high winds that caused scores to skyrocket, the Waves currently stand at +18 in the play-six, count-five event at the par-70 Pasatiempo Golf Club. Pepperdine's six players all completed 17 holes but will have to play the 18th on Tuesday morning. Texas got into the clubhouse at +21.
Pepperdine won this tournament last year with a three-day score of 4-under.
PLAYER SCORES
- Junior Dylan Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS) is one of four players tied atop the leaderboard with a score of even-par, but he's the only one that didn't finish his round. He was 2-over after 12 holes but posted birdies on 13 and 16 to get back to par. Menante is coming off a win the last time out at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational and was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Month earlier today.
- Seniors Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) and Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) are both tied for 12th place at +3. Highsmith had three birdies and Hitchner had two. Highsmith is the defending individual champion at the Western Intercollegiate.
- Senior Joey Vrzich (El Cajon, Calif./Christian HS/Nevada) and junior William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) are both tied for 29th place at +6. Both players had a birdie on 7.
- Freshman Ian Maspat (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch HS) is tied for 80th at +12. He had one birdie.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine and Stanford will play the 18th hole beginning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to complete the first round. They'll play together in the second round as well and are scheduled to tee off in the second round beginning at 10:54 a.m. The Golf Channel will again provide live coverage from 4-7 p.m.
THE NUMBERS
Team Scores: 1. Pepperdine (+18); 2. Texas 371; 3. Washington 373; 4. California 374; 5. San Jose State 376; 6. San Diego State 379; 7. Colorado State 380; T8. Oregon 381; T8. Arizona 381; 10. USC 384; 11. BYU 386; 12. UC Irvine 389; 13. Stanford (+40); 14. Hawai'i 395.
Top Individuals: T1. Dylan Menante (Pepperdine) (E); T1. Pierceson Coody (Texas) 70; T1. Rasmus Hjelm (Colorado State) 70; T1. Nick Watts (San Jose State) 70; T5. Krando Nishiba (USC) 71; T5. Kristopher Stiles (San Jose State) 71.
