By Scott Long
Staff Writer
The men’s golf team ended this semester’s play on Tuesday with a fourth place finish at the Prestige in La Quinta, Calif.
Hosted by both UC Davis and Stanford, the tournament brings in 15 of the top academic and golf-playing universities in the nation. Among these schools was first-place winner UCLA, who bested the Waves by a mere four strokes.
“UCLA is one of the top three or four teams in the nation, and the fact that we hung right there with them through all three rounds of golf says a lot about our team,” said Head Coach John Geiberger.
The top individual finisher for Pepperdine was junior Michael Putnam, who placed 5th overall with a 5-under par 211 for the tournament.
In addition, sophomore Alex Coe finished in 13th place after an impressive final round of 3-under par 69. Junior Brian O’Flaherty also had a strong showing at the Prestige, finishing in 16th place overall.
“We really played well as a team this week, and we had a chance to win going down the stretch,” said O’Flaherty. “Even though we ended up finishing in 4th place, it was a strong showing with the caliber of competition we were up against.”
The Prestige tournament marks the last of the Waves’ five competitions for this semester. Although the men’s golf team is very talented, the season has thus far been marked by up and down play. Despite this fact, they have had very strong showings in many of the tournaments. This was most notable in their first-place win at the Club Glove Intercollegiate home tournament.
“We definitely had a couple of really good tournaments this semester, which shows that we are capable of competing with the top teams in the country,” said Geiberger. “Our goal next semester is to win a couple of tournaments outside of our conference.”
The most consistent and productive player for the Waves this season has been junior Michael Putnam. He has placed in the top half of individual play in almost all of the tournaments, including a first place individual finish at the Club Glove Intercollegiate.
“I am pretty happy with the way I have played so far this season,” said Putnam. “I only had one bad tournament, and I have finished in the top 15 individually in all of the rest. My goal for the second half of the season is to win two or three tournaments this spring.”
Pepperdine looks to kick off second-semester action with a victory at the Arizona/Ping Intercollegiate tournament in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 2 and 3. A big win there would go a long way in setting up the Waves for a run at post-season play.
“Our team is a little young this year, and I expected us to have a few bumps in the road in the fall,” said Geiberger. “We expect to come out stronger this spring with a more experienced team, and hopefully achieve our main goal of competing in the nationals.”
November 06, 2003