MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine's
Derek Hitchner will represent the United States this summer as he will compete at the Arnold Palmer Cup, the Golf Coaches of Association announced today.
As announced in early December, Pepperdine men's golf head coach
Michael Beard was also selected as the head coach for the Americans as well.
The Arnold Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style competition that puts the U.S. against a team of internationals at the Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania and it will be played June 8-10, 2023. USA leads the all-time series 13-12-1. Twelve men and 12 women were picked for both the U.S. and international squads.
This is the sixth time a Wave has been selected for the Arnold Palmer Cup in the last six years and seventh occasion all-time. Including Hitchner in 2023, others have been
Dylan Menante (U.S. men) in 2021 and 2022,
William Mouw (2020 U.S. men), Hira Naveed (2019 international women),
Sahith Theegala (2018 U.S. men) and
Michael Putnam (2005 U.S. men).
Hitchner (Minneapolis, Minn.) is coming off his first collegiate win at the 76
th Western Intercollegiate earlier in the month. The graduate has amassed a 70.64 scoring average, which would rank fifth in the Pepperdine all-time single-season records. He is ranked 15
th by Golfweek, #24 by Golfstat and #32 in the World Amateur Golf rankings. He's had five top-10 finishes and seven top-20 finishes, while marking 13 below par rounds.
Last year as a senior, he earned All-American honorable mention acclaim from Golfweek, and was GCAA/PING All-West Region and All-WCC first team. He has a career scoring average of 71.53, which ranks sixth all-time at Pepperdine. He's also seventh in career below-par rounds with 56.
Pepperdine ranks sixth in the Golfstat national rankings this week and has won two tournaments this spring – The Prestige (Feb. 20-22) and Western Intercollegiate (April 10-12). The squad has finished in the top-five in nine of the 11 tournaments played this year.
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On April 27-29, the Waves will head to Bremerton, Wash. for the West Coast Conference Championships.
