Pepperdine University
Southwestern Invitational
Waves Host 45th Annual Southwestern Invitational
1/27/2024 11:01:00 AM | Men's Golf
MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's golf team will open the spring season by hosting the 45th annual Southwestern Invitational on January 29-31.
EVENT INFO — The Southwestern Invitational will be held at the par-71, 6,800-yard North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif. There will be 18 holes of golf each day between Monday and Wednesday (Jan. 29-Jan. 31). Teams will tee off of holes 1 and 10 each day.
Live scoring will be available via SMART Golf with links available on the website.Â
FIELD — There are 13 teams in the field, including #78 Pepperdine, #4 Washington, #18 Cal, #21 Texas Tech, #27 Ohio State, #31 UCLA, #34 San Diego State, #42 Wake Forest, #48 San Jose State, #72 Houston, #79 UNLV, #80 USC and #102 Colorado.
EVENT HISTORY — This year's tournament will mark the 45th Southwestern Invitational. The inaugural tournament was held in 1978, with USC as the host. Since then, the two schools co-hosted in 2013 and 2014, but the Waves have been the sole host since 2016.
Arizona State holds the record for most victories, with nine. Pepperdine has marked three first-place finishes (2006, 2017, and 2020), with Sahith Theegala (2017, 2020) being one of four two-time winners. Other Waves with individual first-place finishes also include Michael Walton (1995) and Jason Gore (1997).
Last year, Texas took the team victory, while Michael Brennan from Wake Forest took home the individual title. The Waves came in second as a team and graduate student Derek Hitchner led Pepperdine after tying for ninth.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — Pepperdine's lineup consists of sophomores Joshua Koo (Cerritos, Calif./Cerritos HS/Washington) and Mahanth Chirravuri (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton HS/USC), freshman William Walsh (San Mateo, Calif./Juniper Serra HS), sophomore Brady Siravo (Sacramento, Calif./Jesuit HS) and freshman Kristoffer Kuvaas (Houston, Texas/The Village School).
LAST TIME OUT — The Waves last competed at the Cypress Point Invitational in Monterey, Calif. in the fifth tournament of the season. The squad finished fourth out of eight teams. #8-seeded Pepperdine started off hot with an upset over top-seeded Auburn. The squad then fell in a tight 2-1 battle to #5-seeded Texas, before finishing the tournament with a 4-1-1 loss to #3-seeded Tennessee.Â
Mahanth Chirravuri remained undefeated throughout three rounds, having won two rounds while paired with Joshua Koo. He won his singles match against a player that ranked #11 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) at the time, 2&1. Koo and William Walsh finished the tournament with a 2-1 record as well, while Brady Siravo picked up one win alongside Walsh in the first round.
THE FALL CAMPAIGN — Pepperdine has competed in five tournaments so far this season, highlighting the fall campaign with a fourth-place finish at the Cypress Point Invitational - a Ryder Cup-style tournament. In traditional play-five, count-four events, the Waves' best finish was 10th at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, with a pair of 11th-place finishes at the Fighting Illini Invitational and Sahalee Players Championships.
Mahanth Chirravuri led the Waves with a 71.82 scoring average after 11-rounds played, tallying two top-10 finishes and six below-par rounds. Joshua Koo and William Walsh were next for the squad with 73.00 and 73.91 scoring averages respectively.
ROSTER — A fresh roster this year features one returner and five newcomers. Sophomore Brady Siravo is the sole returning Wave from last season. Sophomore transfers Mahanth Chirravuri (USC) and Joshua Koo (Washington) joined the squad, plus freshmen Kristoffer Kuvaas (Houston, Texas/The Village School) and William Walsh (San Mateo, Calif./Juniper Serra HS). The newest addition to the squad came in January with graduate transfer AJ Fitzgerald (Salinas, Calif./Palma School/CSU Monterey Bay). The breakdown is one graduate student, three sophomores and two freshmen.
Players Mentioned
