MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's golf team is heading up north to compete at the Silverado Showdown early next week. It will be the final regular season tournament before the Waves begin the postseason push at the WCC Championships later in the month.
EVENT HISTORY — The tournament will be held at the par-72, 6,146-yard Silverado Resort North Course in Napa, Calif. It's a three-day event (April 8-10) with 18 holes of golf each day. Colorado and Oregon are the tournament hosts.
The Waves will be paired with Oregon, USC and Arizona beginning at 8:44 a.m. on hole one. Live scoring will be available via Golfstat.
FIELD — In addition to #17 Pepperdine and hosts #16 Oregon and #68 Colorado, #4 UCLA, #8 Texas, #9 USC, #11 Northwestern, #14 Arizona, #25 California, #27 San Jose State, #31 Washington, #44 Denver, #45 Oregon State, #46 Iowa State, #67 TCU and #80 San Francisco.
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup consists of senior Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.), sophomore Jeneath Wong (Melbourne, Australia), junior Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.), senior Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia) and sophomore Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China).
RANKINGS — Pepperdine is ranked #17 in the Clipp'd national rankings this week. In the Clipp'd national individual rankings, Wong is #21, Lauren Gomez is #79, Lion Higo ranks #120 and Kaleiya Romero is #134. In the WAGR, Jeneath Wong is ranked #58 and Lion Higo ranks #94.
PEPPERDINE AT THE SHOWDOWN — This will be the sixth time the Waves have competed at the Silverado Showdown, having done so previously from 2016-19 and then again in 2023. The program's best team and individual finish came in the first year when the squad finished third out of 18 teams and alumna Hira Naveed finished tied for seventh. Last season, the Waves finished fifth out of 17 and both Jeneath Wong and Kaleiya Romero tied for eighth.
LAST TIME OUT — The Waves had a solid March, finishing in the top-four in all three tournaments played and highlighting with a dominant team win at the Silicon Valley Showcase. At the tournament, Jeneath Wong also picked up her first collegiate individual victory as well.
Pepperdine battled through unsavory weather conditions with heavy winds and rain delays to win the Silicon Valley Showcase. The Waves won by a staggering 35-stroke margin with a three-round total of 857 (287-283-287) and Wong took home the hardwarey with a 7-under 206 (68-68-70). Along with her in the top-10 were Lion Higo and Lauren Gomez who tied for third and Kaleiya Romero who tied for 10th.
Last week, the Waves finished third out of 21 teams at the Fresno State Classic, led by Romero with a fourth-place tie to finish. The team produced an 878 (293-297-287) through three rounds.
SPRING SO FAR — The Waves have played in four tournaments, one - the Therese Hession Regional Challenge - that turned into a match play format and stroke-play formatted The Show at Spanish Trail, Silicon Valley Showcase and Fresno State Classic. Kaleiya Romero highlighted the former by going undefeated at 2-0-1, besting opponents from #10 Florida and Baylor.
At The Show at Spanish Trail in Las Vegas, Pepperdine finished tied for fourth with a 12-over 876. Jeneath Wong led the squad with the best finish of her career after tying for second with a 4-under 212, only three shots behind first-place. Lauren Gomez, Romero and Lion Higo also finished in the top-27 as well.
The Waves went on to win the Silicon Valley Showcase the following week and Wong earned her first collegiate victory, while closing up the month of March in third-place at the Fresno State Classic.
WCC MONTHLY HONORS — Kaleiya Romero tabbed the season's first golfer of the month accolade, having put in a strong performance at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge for the month of February. The accolades kept rolling for the Waves as Jeneath Wong tabbed the same honor for the month of March.
Wong won her first career tournament, finished second in another one and top-15 in all three tournaments played in the month of March. Through nine rounds of action, she maintained a 70.78 average and had 29 birdies in total.
She shot a 7-under 206 (68-68-70) - with all three rounds under par - at the Silicon Valley Showcase to win the crown while also propelling the Pepperdine women's golf team to a first-place finish. The Waves finished 35-shots ahead of any other team for the win, leading then-ranked #3 UCLA by as many. Pepperdine also bested fellow WCC opponents San Francisco and Santa Clara by 52 and 66 strokes respectively. To begin the month, she shot a 4-under 212 (70-68-74) to tie for second at The Show at Spanish Trail, behind UCLA's Zoe Campos by just three shots. She helped lead the team to another top-four finish. Then to close up the month, she finished tied for 11th with a 219 (74-74-71) at the Fresno State Classic and helped Pepperdine to a third-place finish in the tournament.
