Men's Golf Gets Title Defense Underway at NCAA Championships

Friday, May 27

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Pepperdine University

NCAA Championships

William Mouw

Photo by: Roger Horne

Men's Golf Gets Title Defense Underway at NCAA Championships

5/27/2022 7:46:00 PM | Men's Golf

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By: by Athletic Communications

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – The Pepperdine men's golf team got its title defense underway on Friday at the NCAA Championships, but the Waves got off to a rocky start and stand in a tie for 14th place after the first round.

On a 100-degree afternoon, the Waves shot an opening 294 at the par-70 Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club. It's 12 shots off the lead, but more importantly, five shots back of eighth place.

The top 15 teams will advance after Sunday's third round, and the top teams after Monday's fourth round will qualify for match play.

The two-time national champions have advanced to the NCAA finals for the third consecutive time – a first in program history – and for the 12th time overall.

PLAYER SCORES

Senior Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) is tied for 16th place after a 1-over 71. He had an impressive front nine with eight pars and his only birdie of the day on 4. His round finished with five consecutive pars.
Junior William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) is also tied for 16th after a 71. He had a team-high three birdies in the first round. His best stretch came between holes 7 and 17 as he had birdies on 8, 10 and 16 and pars on the others.
Senior Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School), senior Joey Vrzich (El Cajon, Calif./Christian HS/Nevada) and junior Dylan Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS) are all tied for 101st place after each shot an opening 76. All three players had one birdie on Friday.

QUOTABLE

Pepperdine Coach Michael Beard said: "We got off to a little bit of a slow start but we're not that far out of it. It's a long week. There were some tough shots where we didn't quite leave ourselves in the best places around the greens and unfortunately it's hard to make pars in those spots. But the guys hung in there and we'll be ready to go tomorrow morning. We're not too far out of it and it's only the first round."

UP NEXT

Pepperdine will be paired with Arizona State and North Carolina for the second straight day. Unlike Friday, when they played in the heat of the afternoon, the three teams will get started at 6:32 a.m. on the 10th tee on Saturday.

THE NUMBERS

Team Scores: 1. Vanderbilt 282; T2. Oregon 285; T2. Auburn 285; T4. Kansas 286; T4. Arizona 286; 6. Oklahoma 287; 7. North Carolina 288; 8. Oklahoma State 289; T9. Arizona State 290; T9. Liberty 290; T11. Florida State 291; T11. Texas 291; T11. Georgia 291; T14. Pepperdine 294; T14. Arkansas 294; T16. BYU 295; T16. Stanford 295; T16. Georgia Southern 295; T19. Ole Miss 297; T19. East Tennessee State 297; T19. Texas Tech 297; T19. Utah 297; 23. Georgia Tech 298; T24. Texas A&M 300; T24. Ohio State 300; T24. Florida 300; T27. South Florida 303; T27. Wake Forest 303; 29. College of Charleston 305; 30. North Florida 306.

Top Individuals: T1. Harry Hillier (Kansas) 68; T1. Brendan Valdes (Auburn) 68; T3. Kieran Vincent (Liberty) 69; T3. Mason Williams (Georgia Southern) 69; T3. Chase Sienkiewicz (Arizona) 69; T3. Bo Jin (Oklahoma State) 69; T3. Chaz Aurilia (Arizona) 69.