The Pepperdine men’s golf team had no problem continuing their winning ways in the Reese Jones Intercollegiate tournament in Daufuskie Island South Carolina finishing in a tie for fourth place with Michigan State.
Even though this would be considered successful senior Shane Mason felt the team could have done better.
“Team-wise I think we all have higher expectations for how we played collectively Mason said. It was a tough course and we didn’t play quite as well as we wanted to.”
Led by Mason and junior Andrew Putnam who both recorded top five placements after the first two rounds the men’s team finished Monday tied for fourth place with UNC Wilmington at 32-over 608.
Of the twelve teams competing only seven were able to finish Monday’s second round due to nightfall at the Haig Point Club. Pepperdine was one of the seven teams to finish both rounds shooting a 310 in the morning and a slightly lower 298 in the afternoon.
“It was weird because Monday early in the day it rained consistently so it was a good sign that we could persevere through that Mason said. Why we didn’t play well in the afternoon I’m not really sure.”
At the start of the completion of the second round on Tuesday morning California lead the tournament with an impressive 4-over 580 score. Kennesaw State one of the five teams who didn’t finish the second round on Monday sat in second with a 26-over and was followed closely by Michigan State which had a 31-over 607.
The end of the tournament Tuesday afternoon marked a career-best for Mason who closed the event with an even-par 72 giving him an overall score of 2-over 218. Mason finished tied for fourth place only four strokes behind a medalist position. This is quite an improvement from his previous career best in which he tied for 11th twice during his freshman season.
Even so Mason was humble about his accomplishment.
“It was fun to play well on a tough trip Mason said of his accomplishment. In golf you lose more than win so it felt good to do well.”
Putnam didn’t finish quite as strongly as Mason after the first two rounds. He recorded a score of 81 in his final round putting him in a tie for 17th place.
Other Pepperdine contributors included sophomore Josh Anderson who tied for 28th place senior Carl Smith who took 40th and Johnny McArthur.
McArthur a redshirt freshman made his collegiate debut in the tournament this week and finished in 48th place at 242.
The Waves will play in their third tournament of the season Oct. 11 through 13 at The Prestige at PGA West in La Quinta Calif.
