Peppperdine’s men’s golf team was voted No. 1 in the final Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll of the 2020 season, which was cut short because of safety measures put in place because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Coach Michael Beard’s Waves, who were led by senior Sahith Theegala and freshman William Mouw, received 22 of the 26 first-place votes to finish ahead of Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas and Georgia Tech.
Wake Forest, Arizona State, Texas A&M, Baylor and Washington rounded out the top10. USC finished at No. 25, while UCLA and San Diego State also received votes, but finished outside the top 25.
Pepperdine, which passed Oklahoma in the previous poll, captured the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, the Southwestern Invitational and the Amer Ari Invitational in addition to finishing second twice this season.
The Waves finished fifth or better in all eight of their tournaments.
Theegala, from Chino Hills, missed last season because of a wrist injury but came back to win individual titles in the Alister Mackenzie Invitational and the Southwestern Invitational this season to give him four victories in his college career.
Those were two of Theegala’s six top-10 results for the Waves during the 2019-20 season, and he finished No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings.
Mouw, from Chino, claimed his first college victory in the Amer Ari Invitational among his five top-10 finishes for the Waves this season. He was No. 15 in Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings and was named to the United States team for the 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup matches.
Theegala and Mouw both are finalists for the Haskins Award, given each year to the best player in men’s college golf.
