Men's Golf Heads to Florida for Valspar Collegiate Invitational

MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's golf team continues on with the spring season in Palm City, Fla. for the Valspar Collegiate Invitational.

EVENT INFO — The Valspar Collegiate Invitational will be held at the par-71, 6,943-yard Floridian in Palm City, Fla. There will be 54-holes of gold throughout, with 36 holes to be played on Monday and the final 18 played on Tuesday (March 27-28). Live scoring will be available via Golfstat.

FIELD — In addition to #9 Pepperdine, the stacked field includes #2 Arizona State, #3 Texas Tech, North Carolina, #7 Florida State, #10 Texas, #14 Texas A&M, #18 Georgia Southern, #26 Northwestern, #34 Ohio State, #36 Wake Forest, #37 Duke, Houston, Marquette, Minnesota and Lamar.

EVENT HISTORY — Pepperdine has played in this event three times in recent years, competing in 2018, 2021 and 2022. Prior to last season, the Waves best finish was 7th, though Pepperdine was able to take the tournament title in 2022 after shooting 34-under. The squad led Florida State who finished second by 14-strokes. Dylan Menante finished first as well with a 14-under output, while Joe Highsmith and William Mouw each finished in the top-10, Mouw with a 6-under 207.

PEPPERDINE LINEUP — Pepperdine's lineup for the NIT consists of senior William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS), graduate students Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School), Sam Choi (Anaheim, Calif./New Mexico), Luke Gifford (Boca Raton, Fla./South Florida) and Roberto Nieves (Miami, Fla./Delaware).

RANKINGS — The Waves are currently #9 by Golfstat and the Bushnell/Golfweek coaches poll and #10 by Golfweek/Sagarin.

Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings: Mouw #17, Hitchner #28, Choi #52.

Golfstat individual rankings: Mouw #6, Choi #35, Hitchner #42, Gifford #172.

PGA Tour University rankings: Mouw #3, Choi #18, Hitchner #22, Gifford #84, Nieves #100.

World Amateur Golf Rankings: Mouw #7, Choi #37, Hitchner #38.

SPRING HIGHLIGHTS — Pepperdine has had an impressive spring thus far, finishing top-three in all four tournaments the team has played in. The Waves had a strong performance at The Prestige, finishing on top out of 24 teams and winning the well-known 22-year-old tournament for the first time in program history. William Mouw had the lead after day one, shooting 7-under for a 65, one shy of his career best performance and he ended in second overall. Derek Hitchner moved up 18 spots on the leaderboard in the final round to finish tied for fifth and Sam Choi finished tied for ninth.

After beginning the third and final round of the NIT in Tucson, the Waves rallied back with an impressive 18-under effort to eventually end in second-place. Overall, the squad finished 23-under, while Mouw finished in third-place, only three-strokes away from the lead.

Pepperdine began slowly at its own Southwestern Invitational to open the Spring campaign, finishing the first round tied-sixth. The Waves had better second and third rounds than any other team, moving up four spots to finish second overall with a 1-under, but it would not be enough to overcome a 14-under display from Texas for the win. In the most recent tournament, the Waves finished third with a three-day score of 846 (278-286-282) at Southern Highlands. Mouw tied for fifth with an 8-under after three rounds, posting a 7-under 65 in the final round alone. Choi also finished in the top-20, tying for 16th.

RECORDS WATCH — William Mouw ranks #2 all-time in scoring average (71.04), #6 in below-par rounds (58) and 9th in career top-20 finishes (27) ... Derek Hitchner is #7 all-time in scoring average (71.67) and #8 below-par round (53).

Men's Golf Heads to Florida for Valspar Collegiate Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Sam Choi

Luke Gifford

Joe Highsmith

Derek Hitchner

Dylan Menante

William Mouw

Roberto Nieves

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