Pepperdine held on in the final holes to defeat third-ranked Texas Tech by six strokes and capture The Prestige on the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, where severe windy conditions nearly caused the final round to be cancelled.
William Mouw led the 15th-ranked Waves by finishing second, one stroke behind Ludvig Aberg of Texas Tech, while Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford was another shot back in a tie for third with Tyran Snyders of Texas Tech.
“Not knowing if we were going to play the third round, I was very impressed with how our guys handled the uncertainty of finishing and the wind today,” said Coach Michael Beard of Pepperdine, which won The Prestige for the first time in 22 attempts. “The conditions were extremely difficult and they stayed in and battled all the way to the end.
“Winning always feels good, and getting this win this early in the spring is big for this team. With four seconds in past years, to finally win The Prestige with this group of guys is really special.”
Pepperdine, which finished second twice during the Fall Season, posted a winning score of 276-278-290—844, eight-under-par, followed by Texas Tech at 280-282-288—850, sixth-ranked Stanford at 277-281-299—857, Texas Christian at 279-291-294—864, and Northwestern at 291-279-296—866.
Colorado State was sixth at 285-284-298—867, followed by Louisville at 289-282-299—870, Baylor at 281-284-307—872, San Francisco at 290-286-302—878, and Loyola Marymount at 281-292-307—880.
UC Davis finished 11th at 286-287-310—883, while San Diego was 14th at 299-285-303—887, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo wound up in a tie for 23rd at 300-306-321—927.
Aberg, ranked fourth in the nation, won The Prestige for the third straight year and claimed his fifth college victory with a score of 67-70-70—207, six-under-par, followed by Mouw at 65-71-72—208, while the second-ranked Thorbjornsen shot 66-69-74—209 to tie for third with Snyders, who finished at 66-70-73—209.
Derek Hitchner of Pepperdine totaled 73-69-69—211 to tie for fifth with Riley Lewis of Loyola Marymount, who wound up at 69-72-70—211, Karl Vilips of Stanford, who shot 70-68-73—211, and Drew Wrightson of Baylor, who finished at 68-69-74—211.
Sam Choi of Pepperdine carded a score of 69-69-74—212 to tie for ninth with Max Kennedy of Louisville, who totaled 72-71-69—212, James Imai of Northwestern, who shot 73-68-71—212, and Rasmus Hjelm of Colorado State, who wound up at 71-70-71—212.
Benjamin Partridge led San Francisco in a tie for 14th at 69-69-74—214, Andi Xu of San Diego tied for 16th at 69-72-74—215, Mark Stephens of UC Davis tied for 23rd at 71-71-76—218, and Austin Liu of Cal Poly SLO tied for 88th at 73-76-81—230.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion Pepperdine were Luke Gifford in a tie for 18th at 70-69-77—216 and Roberto Nieves in a tie for 42nd at 72-74-75—221.
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