MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's golf team checked in at No. 15 in the Golf Channel's Preseason Rankings and No. 19 in the Preseason Bushnell/Golfweek D1 Preseason Coaches Poll, both of which were announced Friday.
Head coach Michael Beard's squad is the top-ranked team from outside the Power-4 ranks and just one of two non-Power 4 teams in both rankings (San Diego State was No. 25 in the Bushnell/Golfweek D1 Coaches Poll, while UNLV was No. 28 in the Golf Channel top-30 rankings). The Waves return four players who competed at the NCAA Championships, where they placed 12th. Over the offseason, Pepperdine added decorated Georgia Tech transfer Carson Kim, plus freshmen Oscar Bach and Luke Dariotis.
Individually, Mahanth Chirravuri earned a spot on the Golf Channel's Preseason All-American Third Team — his third preseason honor so far. Earlier this preseason, he made the Haskins Award Preseason Watch List and was named a Golfweek Second Team Preseason All-American. Once again, Chirravuri was the only player from outside the Power-4 ranks represented on the preseason All-American team.
Last year, Chirravuri had his most successful season of collegiate golf. He earned Golfweek and PING All-American honors after tying for ninth place at the NCAA Championships. He was the seventh Wave in program history to earn a top-10 finish at NCAAs. The 2025 West Coast Conference Individual Champion and Golfer of the Year tied Michael Putnam for the second-most below-par rounds by a Wave in a single season with 23, plus he tied Joe Highsmith and Andrew Putnam for sixth for the most top-10 finishes in a single season with seven.
The Waves kick off the 2025-26 season at the Sahalee Players Championship, held in Sammamish, Wash. on Sept. 6-7. All schedule updates and results can be found on the men's golf team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
2025-26 Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches Poll - Preseason
1. Oklahoma State (15 first-place votes) — 466 points
2. Auburn (1) — 424
3. Texas — 406
4. Florida (1) — 391
5. Ole Miss (1) — 381
6. Arizona State — 377
7. Virginia — 374
8. Oklahoma — 335
9. Florida State — 287
10. LSU — 282
11. Illinois — 260
12. Vanderbilt — 236
T-13. BYU — 172
T-13. Georgia Tech — 172
T-15. North Carolina — 167
T-15. Texas Tech — 167
17. Tennessee — 165
18. Alabama — 150
19. Pepperdine — 120
20. Texas A&M — 113
21. South Carolina — 98
22. Arizona — 97
23. Georgia — 93
24. UCLA — 72
25. San Diego State — 65
Others receiving votes: Utah (60), SMU (57), Wake Forest (42), UNLV (31), California (21), USC (16), Colorado (14), Santa Clara (13), Arkansas (12), Stanford (12), Clemson (11), Duke (11), TCU (7), USF (7), New Mexico (5), Northwestern (5), Mississippi State (4), Notre Dame (4), Louisville (3), Missouri (3).
Golf Channel's Preseason Top 30
1. Texas
2. Oklahoma State
3. Auburn
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. Virginia
7. Ole Miss
8. LSU
9. Texas Tech
10. Vanderbilt
11. Illinois
12. Arizona State
13. Tennessee
14. Arkansas
15. Pepperdine
16. Florida State
17. Texas A&M
18. North Carolina
19. Arizona
20. BYU
21. Georgia Tech
22. Utah
23. Notre Dame
24. Alabama
25. Cal
26. Stanford
27. South Carolina
28. UNLV
29. Georgia
30. Clemson
Next 10: 31. Duke, 32. SMU, 33. Wake Forest, 34. Charlotte, 35. Mississippi State, 36. San Diego State, 37. New Mexico, 38. Oregon State, 39. Florida Gulf Coast, 40. UCLA
Golf Channel's preseason All-Americans
FIRST TEAM
1. Jackson Koivun, Jr., Auburn
2. Preston Stout, Jr., Oklahoma State
3. Ben James, Sr., Virginia
4. Jase Summy, Sr., Oklahoma
5. Ethan Fang, Jr., Oklahoma State
6. Christiaan Maas, Sr., Texas
7. Michael La Sasso, Sr., Ole Miss
8. Tommy Morrison, Sr., Texas
9. Max Herendeen, Jr., Illinois
10. Arni Sveinsson, Soph., LSU
SECOND TEAM
11. Daniel Bennett, Soph., Texas
12. Jacob Modleski, Sr., Notre Dame
13. Eric Lee, Jr., Oklahoma State
14. Josiah Gilbert, Jr., Auburn
15. Filip Jakubcik, Sr., Arizona
16. Wells Williams, Sr., Vanderbilt
17. Tyler Weaver, Jr., Florida State
18. Michael Mjaaseth, Sr., Arizona State
19. Luke Poulter, Sr., Florida
20. Cameron Tankersley, Sr., Ole Miss
THIRD TEAM
21. Connor Graham, Soph., Texas Tech
22. Bryan Lee, Sr., Virginia
23. Tim Wiedemeyer, Sr., Texas Tech
24. Lance Simpson, Sr., Tennessee
25. Jack Turner, Jr., Florida
26. Kihei Akina, Fr., BYU
27. William Sides, Sr., SMU
28. Mahanth Chirravuri, Sr., Pepperdine
29. Frankie Harris, Sr., South Carolina
30. Zack Swanwick, Soph., Florida
HONORABLE MENTION
31. Garrett Endicott, Sr., Mississippi State
32. Ryder Cowan, Jr., Oklahoma
33. Bryan Kim, Jr., Duke
34. Luke Potter, Sr., Texas
35. Clark Van Gaalen, Soph., Oklahoma
36. Gabriel Palacios, Jr., Utah
37. Connor Williams, Jr., Arizona State
38. Niall Shiels Donegan, Jr., North Carolina
39. John Daly II, Sr., Arkansas
40. Wheaton Ennis, Soph., Texas A&M
Preseason All-Freshmen team
FIRST TEAM
Kihei Akina, BYU
Minh Nguyen, Oregon State
Michael Riebe, Vanderbilt
Logan Reilly, Auburn
Henry Guan, Oklahoma State
SECOND TEAM
Dan Hayes, LSU
Simon Hovdal, Texas Tech
J.D. Culbreth, Georgia
Jackson Byrd, Clemson
Chase Kyes, Tennessee
ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN'S GOLF
Pepperdine men's golf has ranked among the elite collegiate golf programs in the nation, having won the NCAA Championship in 1997 and 2021. The program has won 24 WCC championships while reaching 28 NCAA Regionals and 14 NCAA Championships. With 30 All-American selections, the Waves currently have four active members of the PGA TOUR in 2025.
