Sahith Theegala of fifth-ranked Pepperdine captured the individual title by one stroke and led the Waves to victory by 16 shots over host California in the Alister MacKenzie Invitational at the Meadow Club http://www.meadowclub.com in Fairfax.
The Waves won the tournament for the second straight season with a score of 273-266-270—809, 43-under-par, followed by Cal at 274-272-279—825, St. Mary’s of Moraga at 269-275-282—826, Boise State at 273-276- 280—829 and Long Beach State at 277-273-280—830.
“We are obviously happy for Sahith getting the individual win,” said Pepperdine Coach Michael Beard, a four-time West Coast Conference Coach of the Year who is in his eighth season with the Waves. “He did in style with a birdie at the last hole.
“It was an awesome team win. It was great to have everyone contribute, and having our highest finisher tie for 20th shows our depth. We’re going to enjoy this win.”
Santa Clara was sixth at 284-272-278—834, while San Diego State shot 276-278-281—835 to tie for seventh with San Jose State, which totaled 273-281-281—835, and Chattanooga was ninth at 278-273-287—838, followed by University of San Diego at 279-278-285—842.
Loyola Marymount was 12th at 284-284-284—852, followed by Fresno State at 286-284-286—856, UC Santa Barbara at 293-273-292—858, and the Cal B team at 286-282-291—859.
Theegala, a senior from Chino Hills, claimed the third victory of his college career with a score of 66-64-67—197, while Sean Yu of San Jose State shot 61-66-71—198 to tie for second with Harrison Kingsley of San Diego, who finished at 66-67-65—198.
“We’ve had success here before and we knew we could do it again,” said Theegala, a two-time All-American who missed last season because of a wrist injury. “We want to take this momentum into our next tournament in Georgia and have a strong finish to the fall.
“Individually, it was great to grab a win again. I was just trying to give us some breathing room as a team and hit some good shots. My game has been great and it was good to see it all click together. I’m happy that I’m healthy and able to put together a performance like this for the team.”
Ethan Farnam of St. Mary’s was fourth at 65-70-64—199, followed by Matthew McCarty of Santa Clara at 65-68-67—200, Hugo Townsend of Boise State at 65-69-67—201 and William Mouw of Pepperdine at 69-67-66—202.
Tyler Schafer of Long Beach State totaled 70-64-69—203 to tie for eighth with Finigan Tilly of Cal, who wound up at 67-71-65—203, while Michael Cliff of Fresno State shot 67-67-71—205 to tie for ninth 10th with Joshua McCarthy of Pepperdine, who came in at 68-67-70—205.
Puwit Anupansuebsai led San Diego State in a tie for 12th at 69-67-70—206, while Kento Yamawaki of Cal totaled 71-66-71—208 to finish in a tie for 20th that included Matt Moomjian of UC Santa Barbara, who finished at 74-64-70—208, and Raymond Navis of Loyola Marymount tied for 41st at 73-69-71—213.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion Pepperdine were Dylan Menante in a tie for 12th at 71-68-67—206, while Joey Vrzich shot 74-66-68—208 to finish in a tie for 20th that included Wave teammate Joe Highsmith, who came in at 70-68-70—208.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=18213
