SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Only four teams of the 14 competing at the 76^th Western Intercollegiate shot under par in round one on Monday, including the #9 Pepperdine men's golf team who finished with a 5-under 345.  The Waves will head into the second round at the par-70, 6,514-yard Pasatiempo Golf Course in fourth-place on Tuesday.

Cal and Oregon shot 16- and 15-under respectively to lead after round one, while Stanford shot 11-under for third.  Pepperdine is 7-strokes ahead of both Colorado State and fellow WCC opponent BYU – both tied for fifth.  There are 14 teams competing in the tournament.

Four Waves are in the top-18 after the first round, led by a solid 4-under 66 performance from graduate Sam Choi, who eagled the 16^th hole to help his late round charge.  Graduate Derek Hitchner is tied for 13^th, while William Mouw and Luke Gifford are both tied for 18^th.  In this tournament, each team yields a lineup of six, while the top-five scores are taken.

Pepperdine took home the Western Intercollegiate team title in 2021, while the squad had two Waves take home individual titles in both 2021 and 2020.

PLAYER SCORES

• Graduate Sam Choi (Anaheim, Calif./New Mexico) is tied for fifth with a 4-under 66 to open the tournament.  He marked four birdies and had an eagle on the 16^th. 
• Graduate Derek Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) is tied for 13^th after a 2-under 68.  He had four birdies.
• Senior William Mouw (Chino, Calif./Ontario Christian HS) and graduate Luke Gifford (Boca Raton, Fla./South Florida) are tied for 18^th after each shooting a 1-under 69.  Mouw had two birdies and an eagle on hole six, while Gifford marked five birdies in his first six holes of the day.
• Sophomore Ian Maspat (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch HS) is tied for 63^rd with a 3-over 73.  He had five birdies.
• Graduate Roberto Nieves (Miami, Fla./Delaware) is tied for 86^th with a score of 77. 
• Competing as an individual, freshman Brady Siravo (Sacramento, Calif./Jesuit HS) is tied for 40th with a round one score of 71.

THE NUMBERS
Team Scores: 1. California 334; 2. Oregon 335; 3. Stanford 339; 4. Pepperdine 345; T5. Colorado State 352; T5. BYU 352; 7. UNLV 353; T8. USC 354; T8. UC Irvine 354; T8. San Jose State 354; T11. Washington 355; T11. San Diego State 355; 13. Arizona 356; 14. Hawai'i 366.

Top Individuals: 1. Aaron Du (Cal) 63; T2. Michael Thorbjornsen (Stanford) 64; T2. Gregory Solhaugh (Oregon) 64; 4. Owen Avrit (Oregon); T5. Sam Choi (Pepperdine) 66; T5. Kenau Akina (BYU) 66; T5. Sampson Zheng (Cal) 66; T5. Filip Jakubcik (Arizona) 66.

UP NEXT
Tomorrow, the Waves will be paired with Arizona again, teeing off on hole one starting at 10:34 a.m.  Golf Channel will stream the action from 4-7 p.m.