ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Lauren Gomez of the #17 Pepperdine women's golf team shot an 11-under 205 (67-71-67) to win the first tournament of her senior season on Tuesday at the Branch Law Firm Dick McGuire Invitational.  The Waves finished in third-place as a team after amassing a score of 873 (294-291-288) at the par-72, 6,354-yard UNM Championship course.
 
Gomez shot five-under in the first and last rounds throughout the tournament, earning a three-stroke margin for the top spot and her third career win.  Her 11-under tied for third in the Pepperdine women's golf record books for lowest 54-hole score. The program record for that feat is 17-under, which was achieved in 2008 at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown by Lisa McCloskey.
 
Juniors Jeneath Wong and Yingzhi Zhu also finished in the top-20 after tying for 15^th and 19^th respectively.  It's Wong's 15^th time in the top-20.  Long Beach State had a six-stroke margin for the team victory today, finishing with an 863 after shooting 8-under.  UNLV was in second with a 5-over 869, while CSU Fullerton was three shots behind Pepperdine for fourth-place.
 
PLAYER SCORES

• Senior Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.) finished in the top-10 for the 13^th time in her career, while ranking third among all competitors with 13 birdies in three rounds.  She had an errorless final round after starting the day with a birdie on her fourth hole of the day, hole seven.  She stayed composed through the back nine, birdying hole 13 to go 2-under and then remained flawless through the turn before posting an eagle and birdie on holes one and two to extend her lead and eventually win the day. 
• Junior Jeneath Wong (Melbourne, Australia) had a solid day to move up eight spots from where she started, marking a 220 (77-71-72).  She opened the final round with a birdie on hole seven and remained bogeyless until holes 14 and 15, though she rallied with another pair of birdies on hole 16 and three to finish out the day even par.  She shot for par 40 out of 54 possible holes, which ranked second in the tournament, and totaled six birdies throughout.
• Junior Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China) finished with a 222 (73-74-75).  She bogeyed her first hole of the day, but birdied twice before the turn to go under.  Though she picked up a few more bogeys throughout, she added two more birdies on 16 and 18 to stay competitive.  She finished with 11 birdies altogether.
• Freshman Grace Anderson (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) finished tied for 34^th with a three-round score of 226 (77-75-74).
• Senior KaYee Kwok (Tianjin, China) shot a 254 (88-84-82) to finish 85^th overall.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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NEXT UP
Next, the Waves will trek to Wolcott, Colo. for the Golfweek Red Sky Classic from September 23-25.

THE NUMBERS
Team Scores: 1. Long Beach State 863; 2. UNLV 869; 3. Pepperdine 873; 4. CSU Fullerton 876; 5. Grand Canyon 880; 6. BYU 889; 7. Northern Arizona 892; 8. Cal Poly 893; 9. Nevada 895; 10. New Mexico 897; 11. Chattanooga 904; 12. Texas State 908; 13. UTEP 917; 14. Kennesaw State 924; 15. Hawai'i.
 
Individual Scores: 1. Lauren Gomez (Pepperdine) 205; 2. Jasmine Leovao (LBSU) 208; T3. Toa Yokoyama (UNLV) 210; T3. Davina Xanh (CSUF) 210; T5. Andee Avery (LBSU) 214; T5. Lisa-Marie Pagliano (UNM) 214; T7. Calynne Rosholt (GCU) 216; T7. Mayumi Umezu (UNLV) 216; T7. Katharina Zeilinger (CSUF) 216.