BREMERTON, Wash. – The Pepperdine women's golf team prevailed through sporadic inclement weather in the final round of the West Coast Conference Championships, finishing with a score of 879 (290-287-302) to win the program's third-consecutive and 21
st-overall league title. Junior
Lauren Gomez led the Waves with a stellar weekend to win her second WCC Championships individual crown.
"Coach Kacey and I are very proud of the team winning the WCC Championship" said Head Coach
Laurie Gibbs. "This is our fourth win of the year and these players have won 10 tournaments over the last two years. Lauren played very well to lead the tournament wire-to-wire and Lion was steady for 54-holes to finish second. The players start finals tomorrow and then we will start preparing for Regionals."
Gomez's 213 (70-68-75) at the par-72, 6,112-yard Gold Mountain-Olympic Course, locked herself in with impressive company, as she became the fourth Wave in program history to win the WCC Championships more than once. She had won the crown in 2022 while in her freshman campaign, becoming both the 18
th and now 20
th medalist for Pepperdine at the event. Grace Na (2011, 2013) and Lindsey Wright (2000, 2002) had achieved the feat, while Carolina Llano (2003, 2004, 2005) leads the record books after having won the title three times.
Gomez also became the fifth-consecutive Wave to finish as the medalist in the league tournament since 2019. Along with her own titles in 2022 and 2024, Hira Naveed (2019), Caroline Hwang (2021) and
Kaleiya Romero (2023) won the tournament in recent years. There was no championship event in 2020.
As a program, Pepperdine has now won 21 of the 27 WCC Championships ever contested. This is the team's fourth win of the 2023-2024 season, as the Waves won the Dick McGuire Invitational and Golfweek Red Sky Classic in the fall, as well as the Silicon Valley Showcase in the spring. Gomez's individual title is Pepperdine's second of the season also, as sophomore
Jeneath Wong won Silicon Valley Showcase.
Three Waves finished in the top-four as senior
Lion Higo earned second-place and Wong tabbed fourth-place.
PLAYER SCORES
- Junior Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.) led the field with 12 birdies, including a pair in the final round today. Her 4-under in the second-round ties for third in the program record books for low-18 score and her 3-under 54-hole score ties for fifth. She began the day 1-under through a bogeyless 11 holes and though she shot 3-over by the end of the day, she steadily hung onto the championship.
- Senior Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia) finished in second-place with a 216 (71-71-74). It's her third-consecutive season finishing in the top-three for the Waves, with two second-place results and one third. In the final round today, she posted two birdies, while tallying nine throughout the tournament.
- Sophomore Jeneath Wong (Melbourne, Australia) posted a three-day total of 220 (73-72-75) to finish in fourth-place. She finished with nine birdies overall, including four in the final round today.
- Sophomore Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China) posted a 230 (76-76-78) to finish 14th. She marked two birdies in the final round.
- Freshman Helen Chu (Guangzhou, China) came in to play the final round, finishing with an 82 with two birdies on the day.
THE NUMBERS
Team Scores: 1. Pepperdine 879; 2. San Francisco 890; 3. Santa Clara 896; 4. Gonzaga 905.
Individual Scores: 1. Lauren Gomez (Pepperdine) 213;
2. Lion Higo (Pepperdine) 216; 3. Gonzaga 219;
4. Jeneath Wong (Pepperdine) 220; T5. Riana Mission (USF) 221; T5. Eva Pett (USF) 221.
