MALIBU, Calif. — After a short break, the Pepperdine men's golf team will be back in action next week, set to compete at the 76th Western Intercollegiate presented by Titleist on GOLF Channel. 
 
EVENT INFO — The Western Intercollegiate will be held at the par-70, 6,514 Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif.  There will be 18-holes of golf played each day Monday through Wednesday (April 10-12).  Live scoring will be available via Golfstat.
 
The tournament hosted by San Jose State will be televised nationally for three-consecutive days by the GOLF Channel with three hours of live coverage starting on Monday, April 10 at 4 p.m. PT, continuing on Tuesday at 4 p.m. PT and concluding Wednesday, April 12 at 1 p.m. PT.
 
FIELD — In addition to #9 Pepperdine, the 14-team field includes tournament-host San Jose State, #4 Arizona, #8 Stanford, #22 Oregon, #23 Colorado State, #27 San Diego State, #32 Washington #43 BYU, #50 California, Hawai'i, UC Irvine, UNLV and USC.
 
EVENT HISTORY — 'The Western' began in 1947, making it the longest running college golf tournament.  All 92 players will compete for the Western Intercollegiate's Blue Jacket, awarded to the person with the lowest individual score. 
 
The Waves have competed in the Western Intercollegiate 12 times, finishing in the top-five seven times - winning once and finishing as runner-up on three occasions.
 
In 2021, Pepperdine took home the Western Intercollegiate team title, having posted a score of 1,046, shooting 4-under and winning by an 11-stroke margin.  That year, Dylan Menante won the traditional blue jacket after shooting a final-round 67 (-3) for a 1-under 209 tournament total. He became Pepperdine's third Western individual champion, and second straight, following his teammate Joe Highsmith who won in 2021 and alumnus Jason Allred who won in 2000.
 
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The lineups and pairings can be found on Golfstat when available.
 
RANKINGS — The Waves are currently #9 by Golfstat and the Bushnell/Golfweek coaches poll and #11 by Golfweek/Sagarin.
 
Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings: Hitchner #24, Mouw #29, Choi #47.
 
Golfstat individual rankings: Mouw #25, Choi #33, Hitchner #37, Gifford #154.
 
PGA Tour University rankings: Mouw #5, Choi #18, Hitchner #21, Gifford #78, Nieves #102.
 
World Amateur Golf Rankings: Mouw #7, Hitchner #40 and Choi #41.
 
SPRING HIGHLIGHTS — Pepperdine has had an impressive spring thus far, finishing top-three in four out of the team's five tournaments played.  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.  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. Pepperdine finished 8th out of 16 teams at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at the end of March as well.
 
RECORDS WATCH — William Mouw ranks #3 all-time in scoring average (71.00), #6 in below-par rounds (61) and 9th in career top-10 finishes (18) top-20 finishes (27) ... Derek Hitchner is #7 all-time in scoring average (71.62) and #8 below-par round (54).
 
WCC MONTHLY ACCLAIM — William Mouw earned his first-ever West Coast Conference Golfer of the Month accolade for his performances in February.  He averaged 70.33 strokes per round and tabbed four below par rounds out of his nine rounds played through three tournaments.  He finished int he top-10 twice and top-20 in all three tournaments, including a second-place finish at The Prestige, helping the Waves to the tournament title for the first time in program history.
 
In the following month of March, graduate Sam Choi tabbed WCC Golfer of the Month honors for the first time in his career as well.  In the team's two tournaments in the month, he averaged 70.33 strokes per round and tabbed two below par rounds of is six played, while hitting even par without going over in the other four rounds.  He finished in the top-20 in both tournaments, tying for 13th at the NIT as the Waves finished second and tying for 20th at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational.
 
BILLY'S EGG FARM — Golf Digest caught up with William Mouw mid-March to talk about his aspirations to play on the PGA Tour, as well as his past work history and growing up on his family's farm, Billy's Egg Farm, in Chino, Calif.  Check out the article here: www.gowav.es/3KkBp59.