Waves Make Big Move at NCAA Championships

Saturday, May 28

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Pepperdine University

NCAA Championships

Derek Hitchner

Photo by: Roger Horne

5/28/2022 7:37:00 PM | Men's Golf

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By: by Athletic Communications

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Led by Derek Hitchner's 3-under 67, the Pepperdine men's golf team had an impressive second round at the NCAA Championships and the defending champs moved up to fifth place on Saturday.

The Waves began the second round tied for 14th but climbed nine spots after carding a 2-over, which turned out to be tied for the fourth-best round of the day. Pepperdine has a two-day total of 576 (294-282) at the par-70 Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club.

The Waves finished strong, as their four scoring players managed the final nine holes at 2-under, and the final four holes at 4-under.

Only the top 15 teams will advance after Sunday and the Waves will begin the third round nine shots ahead of the cut line. Only the top eight schools will qualify for match play after Monday and Pepperdine currently has a six-shot cushion there.

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

Junior William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) is tied for ninth place at 141 (71-70). He was 3-over after his first nine holes but had all four of his birdies over the final nine holes: 1, 4, 6 and 8, to get to back to even-par for his round.
Senior Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) moved up 83 spots on the leaderboard and into a tie for 18th place at 143 (76-67). His 20th below-par round of the season puts him into rare company, as he's only the fourth Wave to reach that milestone (joining Michael Putnam, Sahith Theegala and Roy Cootes). Hitchner birdied three of his first five holes and was 3-under at the turn. He went bogey-birdie-bogey-bogey on holes 1-4 to fall to 1-under, but birdied 6 and 7 and finished with two more pars to get back to 3-under for the day.
Senior Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) is tied for 53rd at 147 (71-76). He had two birdies on Saturday, which came on 1 and 4.
Senior Joey Vrzich (El Cajon, Calif./Christian HS/Nevada) is tied for 65th at 148 (76-72). He posted birdies on 2 and 8 in the second round.
Junior Dylan Menante (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek HS) is tied for 75th at 149 (76-73). He had a couple of early birdies on 11 and 14, and finished the day off for the Waves with his third birdie of the round on 9.

QUOTABLE

Pepperdine Coach Michael Beard said: "Our guys really turned it around there. Under par on our back side was extremely impressive. It was really neat to hear all the cheers with the putts being made there at the end, and hearing all the people out here supporting us. It was a very good day. It played tough again, I thought. It was breezy, even on our front nine. But the guys hung in there and adjusted well ... I don't think I've seen a putting round like Derek had today. It was insane. He just did a great job. Didn't have his best from tee to green, but the putter was hot. He had a nice finish to a great day."

UP NEXT

Pepperdine and North Carolina will be paired together for the third straight day but for Sunday's third round they'll be joined by a new team in Arkansas. They'll start on the 10th tee beginning at 6:32 a.m.

THE NUMBERS

Team Scores: 1. Oklahoma 562; 2. Vanderbilt 564; 3. Oklahoma State 566; 4. North Carolina 569; 5. Pepperdine 576; 6. Arkansas 580; 7. Auburn 581; T8. Arizona State 582; T8. Texas 582; T10. Kansas 583; T10. Georgia 583; T12. Ole Miss 584; T12. Texas Tech 584; T14. Stanford 585; T14. Oregon 585; T14. Florida 585; T17. Texas A&M 587; T17. Georgia Tech 587; 19. Wake Forest 588; 20. Florida State 591; 21. Arizona 592; 22. Liberty 593; 23. BYU 597; T24. Georgia Southern 600; T24. Ohio State 600; 26. North Florida 604; 27. East Tennessee State 605; 28. South Florida 607; 29. Utah 608; 30. College of Charleston 618.

Top Individuals: 1. Cole Sherwood (Vanderbilt) 137; T2. Aman Gupta (Oklahoma State) 138; T2. Gordon Sargent (Vanderbilt) 138; T4. Jackson Suber (Ole Miss) 139; T4. Chris Gotterup (Oklahoma) 139.