By Michael Travis
Editor in Chief
The No. 16 ranked Pepperdine men’s golf team landed a sixth place finish at Tuesday’s 17-team USC/Cleveland Golf Southwestern Intercollegiate.
“Overall it was a pretty good tournament,” Head Coach John Geiberger said. “We’ve been getting three players playing well every time, and we just need one or two more guys to kick in. There is a fine line between doing well and not doing well.”
The two-day 54-hole event was held at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, where the team usually practices.
“We haven’t played there as well I would have thought in the past,” Geiberger said. “But the course wasn’t a difficult one so we wouldn’t have had a large advantage over the field anyway.”
Pepperdine held a 15th place standing following the first round of play. It later moved to 13th place following 36 holes of play, and into sixth place in the final round.
“We had three good scores each day,” Geiberger said. “We were close to having a good tournament, but a team needs four or five good scores to make it to the top.”
Sophomore Michael Putnam led the attack for Pepperdine, tying for 14th place with a one-over-par total of 143 after the first day of action and two matches. He moved into a five-way tie for third place after finishing with a final two-under-par total of 211, improving on each round of the tournament.
“I’m pretty encouraged with how we’ve played this season,” Geiberger said. “We’ve got a young team — there is only one senior. We are being led by two sophomores and still finishing well, which is nice.”
The other sophomore, Brian O’Flaherty, completed the tournament in a five-way tie for eighth place with a one-under-par score of 212.
“(Putnam and O’Flaherty) are definitely two leaders on the team,” freshman Alex Coe said. Coe placed 41st in the tournament. “They are very consistent, even tempered, and day in and day out perform well.”
And in the game of golf, consistency is the key.
“If you’re not consistent, you’ll lose your job,” Coe said.
The team is looking forward to its next tournament March 17-18. The Waves will travel to Austin, Texas, to compete at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate.
“I’m looking forward to the tournament,” Geiberger said. “We finished second there last year, and it’s one of the strongest tournaments in the country.”
Geiberger said confidence will be the key to victory.
“There can’t be any question marks on the team,” he said. “There has to be confidence that each member of the team will perform well.”
Coe believes that is exactly what has been happening.
“With every tournament that goes on, the team gets more confident,” Coe said. “That’s what we need to win.”
Geiberger also believes his team is ready.
“The guys really have played better over time,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough golf course and an extremely strong field, but we are prepared for it.”
March 13, 2003