MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men’s golf team will head to La Quinta, Calif. for The Prestige on February 17-19 at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West.
 
EVENT INFO — The tournament will be held at the 7,185-yard par-71 Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif. There will be 54 holes of golf with 18 holes played each day. The Waves will begin the first round on hole 1 with their first tee time at 11:55 a.m. on Monday. Pepperdine will be paired with #34 Oregon and Baylor for the first round and will tee off on hole 1.
 
Live scoring will be available via Scoreboard by Clipp’d and can be found on the men’s golf schedule page on www.PepperdineWaves.com. The tournament central can be found here.
 
FIELD — This week’s field features a total of 24 teams. The full field is as follows: #6 North Carolina, #15 Pepperdine, #23 Texas Tech, #31 Northwestern, #34 Oregon, #35 Louisville, #36 Colorado, #40 Colorado State, #43 Arkansas Little Rock, #45 Stanford, #46 Kansas, Baylor, Florida Atlantic, Iowa State, Kansas State, Loyola Marymount, Nevada, Oregon State, Princeton, San Diego, UC Davis (Tournament Host), UNC Wilmington, Washington State and Yale.
 
PEPPERDINE LINEUP — Pepperdine’s lineup consists of junior Brady Siravo (Sacramento, Calif.), junior Mahanth Chirravuri (Chandler, Ariz.), sophomore William Walsh (San Mateo, Calif.), graduate Nathan Han (Somers, N.Y.) and freshman Luke Bailey (Encinitas, Calif.).
 
WCC PRESEASON POLLS — The Waves were picked first in the preseason coaches poll after receiving 80 points and eight of the 10 first place votes. The full order went as follows: 1. Pepperdine (8), 2. Pacific (2), 3. San Diego, 4. LMU, 5. Oregon State, 6. Santa Clara, 7. Saint Mary’s, 8. San Francisco, 9. Washington State, 10. Gonzaga.
 
Additionally, Luke Bailey, Mahanth Chirravuri and William Walsh made the WCC preseason squad.
 
RANKINGS — Pepperdine sits 15th in the NCAA rankings. The Waves opened the fall campaign ranked #21 in the Golf Channel preseason rankings. Mahanth Chirravuri is also ranked #60 in the USGA World Amateur Golf Rankings this week.
 
LAST TIME OUT — The Waves last competed at the Amer Ari Invitational in Kohala Coast, Hawaii. Pepperdine finished the par-72 6,913-yard Mauna Lani North Course in seventh place with a three-round score of 818 (271-279-268) (-46). The Waves were led by Brady Siravo who earned his third top-20 finish of the season at 12-under with a three-day score of 204 (68-67-69).
 
In the final round in Hawaii, Pepperdine was highlighted by William Walsh who shot a career-best 9-under 63 to become the seventh Wave to ever record a round of 9-under or better. He joined Andrew Putnam, Frederick Wedel, Clay Feagler, Derek Hitchner and Joe Highsmith as Pepperdine players who have shot 9-under in a round. RJ Manke holds the record for the best round as a Wave with his score of 10-under in 2018.
 
TEAM EFFORT — Pepperdine has amassed a 283.33 team scoring average through 18 rounds of action so far this season, impressing with a 70.83 collective scoring average, which is on track to be one of the program’s best scoring averages. The Waves best season came during the 2019-2020  season when they posted a 280.1.
 
RECORD BOOK WATCH — Brady Siravo is 16th in the record book on the career scoring average list with a 73.26. William Walsh also notched his name in the record book in the tournament low 18 category after posting an impressive 9-under in the final round of the Amer Ari Invitational this year. His score puts him in a tie for second for the best round ever as a Wave.
 
FOLLOW —  Follow the Waves all season on social media @PeppGolf on Facebook, X and Instagram.  For updated scores, schedules and more, go to www.pepperdinewaves.com.
 
ROSTER — The Waves return five starters this season and welcome three newcomers.  Juniors Mahanth Chirravuri, Joshua Koo and Brady Siravo, as well as sophomores Kristoffer Kuvaas and William Walsh return after strong efforts last season.  Siravo is in his third year with the Waves after being a true freshman in 2022-23, while the other four begin their second.  Graduate transfer Nathan Han (Columbia) will look to make an impact for Pepperdine this season, while freshmen Luke Bailey (Encinitas, Calif./Santa Fe Christian HS) and Byungho Lee (Seoul, South Korea/Spring Creek Academy (Plano)) also joined the squad.  The breakdown is one graduate student, three juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen.
 
2023-2024 RECAP — Last season, Pepperdine finished in second-place at the WCC Championships stroke play, earning the #2 seed in the inaugural match play format.  The Waves defeated PCH Cup rival LMU in the semifinal before going head-to-head with eventual champions San Diego in the final bout.  Brady Siravo and William Walsh tied for first alongside LMU’s Riley Lewis during stroke play, and while both outplayed the Lions’ golfer in the playoff, Siravo came away with his first-ever collegiate tournament win. 
 
The Waves finished in the top-five in four tournaments and won one tournament throughout the season, the Saticoy Showdown in the spring, where Kristoffer Kuvaas won his first individual collegiate tournament as well.  Siravo, Walsh and Mahanth Chirravuri each tabbed All-West Coast Conference first team nods, while Chirravuri went on to earn PING All-West Region honors.  The same three Waves earned a bid to the NCAA Rancho Santa Fe Regional as individuals.
 
WAVES ON THE PGA TOUR — Four Pepperdine alumni are currently competing or earned their PGA Tour cards this season.  Sahith Theegala and Andrew Putnam have been playing for multiple years, while Joe Highsmith is in his first year with a card after earning it through the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour.  William Mouw will become the fourth Pepperdine alumnus with his Tour card.
 
THEEGALA EARNS SPOT ON U.S. PRESIDENTS CUP TEAM — Sahith Theegala earned a spot on the 2024 U.S. Presidents Cup Team in early September after hanging on to the sixth and final automatic qualifying spot at the BMW Championships at the end of August.  The U.S. Presidents Cup is a series of men’s golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe and is held bi-annually. This year’s event will be held at the Royal Montreal Golf Course in Montreal, Canada on September 24-29.
 
Theegala will join the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Russell Henley and Max Homa on the American’s squad.
 
PEPPERDINE GOLF — Thanks to its victories at the 1997 and 2021 NCAA Championships, Pepperdine has clinched a spot among the sport’s elite. The Waves have made 13 appearances at the NCAA finals since 1993, and have achieved NCAA Regional berths in 27 of the last 32 tries. In the West Coast Conference, the Waves have won a league-best 22 championships since 1987 and have finished either first or second in 29 of the last 37 tournaments.
 
Pepperdine has had 21 student-athletes earn All-American honors a total of 33 times. Sahith Theegala was the unanimous national player of the year in 2020, and the Waves have had two Byron Nelson Award winners (Jason Allred in 2002 and Michael Putnam in 2005).  Four Waves will be competing on the PGA Tour next season, while three currently possess their PGA Tour cards.
 
BEARD — Former Pepperdine All-American Michael Beard is in his 13th season as the Waves’ head coach. He earned the Dave Williams Award as the Division I National Coach of the Year in 2020 after leading the Waves to the #1 ranking before the pandemic cancelled the season, then led Pepperdine to the NCAA title in 2021. He became the first WCC men’s golf coach ever to earn WCC Coach of the Year honors three consecutive years (beginning in 2016) and he extended that streak to six straight in 2022 (he and Gonzaga’s Mark Few are the only WCC coaches to win six straight Coach of the Year awards). Beard competed for the Waves between 1999-2002 and was a GCAA All-American honorable mention selection in both 2000 and 2002. He was the medalist at the 2000 NCAA West Regional and the 2002 WCC Championships and was a four-time All-WCC first teamer. After playing professionally for several years, he served as an assistant coach at Pepperdine for one season and helped the Waves to make the 2011 NCAA Championships. Beard returned to Pepperdine in December 2012 after spending the previous season-and-a-half as an assistant at Arizona State.
 
JR. WAVES — Register your kid(s) to join Pepperdine’s official kids club, “Jr. Waves” for the 2024-2025 academic year.  Jr. Waves receive an exclusive t-shirt, membership card and a lanyard that grants free general admission to all Pepperdine ticketed sporting events. Memberships start at $100 per kid.
 
ABOUT PEPPERDINE — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men’s sports — one of just 20 schools to have accomplished this feat — and 10 overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a “major” conference. The Waves have won a total of 26 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that’s given to the top non-football school, four times (most recently in 2022-23). Located in scenic Malibu, California, the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation’s most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #80 overall on U.S. News and World Report’s list of America’s best colleges.