SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Assistant
The Waves are on fire. After capturing a title two weeks ago, the Pepperdine men’s golf team finished third at this week’s General Jim Hackler Invitational with the help of senior Alex Coe, who carried the team while also capturing individual medalist honors.
While most students were on vacation during Spring Break, the men’s golf team played a tournament in the rain. But the good news is the Waves captured their first victory of the season at their home course North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village.
Shooting a 9-over 861, Pepperdine registered a nine-shot victory over host USC as the Waves dropped their ranking from No.-28 to No.-19.
The Waves traveled to the East Coast last week to participate in the General Jim Hackler Invitational in South Carolina. They tied for the fourth place after Sunday’s rounds of 297 and 292 at the par-72, 6,950-yard TPC of Myrte Beach in Murrells. Carding a final-round 298, they finished the tournament for third with a 23-over 887, following East Tennessee State’s 867 and Coastal Carolina’s 877.
Individually, Coe shot a final-round, 3-under par 69 to finish at 6-under 210 and captured individual medalist honors. Coe’s rounds of 70-71-69 registered a one-shot victory over the second-round leader Rhys Davies of East Tennessee State. His last victory was at the same course in the same tournament two years ago, when he totaled a 4-under score of 212.
“It’s a kind of course that you have to have patience,” Coe said. “And just knock it ahead of yourself, hit solid shots, just take your par, hopefully a birdie, and go to the next hole.
Coe also described himself as a player with a lot of patience.
“You have to have be very disciplined to play the course, and I enjoy tough golf courses like that,” he said.
Sophomore golfer Colin Wilcox also described the TPC of Myrte Beach as a difficult course.
“You really have to stay focused on every tee shot,” Wilcox said.
Although shooting 6-under for the 54-hole tournament is not easy to do, Wilcox did not sound like he was surprised by his teammate’s victory.
“I knew he was going to play well because he has been playing pretty well and was playing pretty well when I played with him during the practice round,” he said.
Other than the course, there was one more factor that the Waves had to overcome: the three-hour time difference.
“I couldn’t fall asleep ‘til like 1:30 while I was there,” freshman Adam Porzak said. “And the toughest part was, we had to wake up at like 5 [a.m].”
Posting his career-low under these circumstances, Coe proved that he is one of the most discipline players in college golf.
The Waves are next in action March 27 when they begin playing at the N.I.T. Invitational at The Omni Tucson Invitational Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.
03-16-2006