Sahith Theegala of host Pepperdine claimed the individual title and led the Waves to victory in the Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch Country Club http://www.northranchcc.org in Westlake Village, but it was what Theegala did at the finish that drew the most attention.
Before putting out for the victory, Theegala donned a Los Angeles Lakers jersey bearing the No. 8 to honor Kobe Bryant, who was killed along with his daughter, Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter accident about 12 miles away in Calabasas on Sunday.
“He was my sports idol, as well as millions and millions of other people,” Theegala told Brentley Romine of The Golf Channel. “To lose him a couple days ago was absolutely devastating and heartbreaking, and I was just really happy I could pay respects to him.”
Theegala a senior All-American from Chino Hills who was coming off a victory in the Australian Master of the Amateurs, captured his second victory of the college season with a score of 70-68-66—204, 12-under-par, while Leon D’Souza of USC was second at 70-68-67—205.
By winning, Theegala tied Jim Johnson and Kevin Marsh for the Pepperdine record of four career victories.
Chun An Yu of Arizona State was third at 74-68-69—211, followed by Finigan Tilly of California at 74-72-67—213 and Kento Yamawaki of Cal at 74-66-74—214, while Ethan Ng of Stanford shot 77-69-69—215 to tie for sixth with Joey Vrzich of Pepperdine, who finished at 69-75-71—215.
Clay Feagler of Pepperdine totaled 76-71-69—216 to finish in a big tie for eighth with Wave teammates Dylan Menante (76-71-69—216) and William Mouw (74-72-70—216), Freddie Lee of Stanford (70-76-70—216), Bryce Wortman of San Jose State (72-73-71—216 and Blake Wagoner of Arizona State (70-74-72—216).
Thomas Hutchison led UC Davis in a tie for 14th at 71-70-76—217 and Devon Bling of UCLA tied for 18th at 76-72-70—218.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion Pepperdine were Derek Hitchner in a tie for 14th at 75-75-67—217, RJ Manke in a tie for 21st at 72-70-77—219, Austin Murphy in a tie for 23rd at 75-73-72—220, Joe Highsmith in that tie for 23rd at 69-77-74—220, and Joshua McCarthy in a tie for 29th at 76-73-73—222.
Coach Michael Beard’s Waves, who earned their second title of the season after also winning the Alister Mackenzie Invitational as Theegala took home the individual title in October, finished with a score of 284-287-279—850, 14-under.
USC posted a score of 299-289-279—867 to tie for second with Arizona State, which wound up at 293-291-283—867, while Cal was fourth at 302-288-282—872, followed by Stanford at 296-295-285—876, LSU at 292-304-285—881 and UCLA at 298-296-293—887.
San Jose State carded a score of 302-289-299—890 to tie for eighth with BYU, which finished at 301-299-290—890, while North Texas was 10th at 295-313-294—902, UC Davis at 304-295-304—903, and Augusta at 313-297-296—906.
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