By J. Douglas Stevens
Pepperdine’s men’s golf team jumpstarted its fall season finishing a strong second at its host tournament, the 4th annual 12-team Club Glove Intercollegiate, Oct. 15 at the Saticoy Country Club in Somis, Calif.
The defending champion Waves led team standings after 18 and 36 holes and had a five-shot lead going into the final round, but it would not be enough to come out on top.
“We had the opportunity to tie with some long puts on the last green, but missed,” Men’s Golf Coach John Geiberger said.
With a final score of 869, the Waves lost to Irvine by only one stroke, a disappointing end to the team’s valiant effort, led by freshman Chris Elliot.
“I started off struggling a little bit,” Elliot said, “but in the last round I birdied on the 14th, 15th and 16th to get me back in the tournament.”
Elliot finished third place overall with a three-under par score of 213. In only his third collegiate contest, Elliot’s performance was anything but a struggle.
“Overall, I was very happy with (the team’s) performance, considering we have such a young team,” Geiberger said, “We have a junior, two sophomores and a freshman as our core players.”
Sophomore Brian O’Flaherty, who finished sixth overall with an even par, said he believed Pepperdine made a good showing at second place, a full 15 strokes ahead of third place Oklahoma.
“The tournament was bittersweet,” said O’Flaherty, “bitter because we had the lead and lost it, but it’s sweet knowing we have the potential to be the top team in the nation.”
And that potential is slowly becoming a reality. Pepperdine’s men’s golf team was ranked 20th by Golf Week magazine, catapulting the team’s confidence.
“Our attitude all along has been to win every tournament,” sophomore Mike Putnam said, “With Club Glove we showed the freshman that we can compete with highly ranked teams.”
Third-year player Randy Creighton, who scored 69 in the first round and 73 in the third, echoed Putnam’s confidence and said he is excited to see this good team get better.
“We don’t have the experience of last year’s team and the year before, but we have the talent to be just as good if not better. It all depends on how hard we work,” Creighton said.
Practice sessions are focused now as the team prepares to leave Saturday Nov. 2 for the Prestige, a distinguished tournament hosted by Stanford in La Quinta, Calif. Only schools with prestigious academics as well as athletics are invited to this tournament, and the Waves, finishing sixth last year, expect to make quite a showing.
After the Prestige, the Waves are off to North Carolina to compete in the Hooters Match Play, a tournament for teams finishing in the top 16 in last year’s NCAA championship. Pepperdine finished eighth last year.
October 24, 2002