Pepperdine Sweeps the Western Intercollegiate Again
Santa Cruz, Calif. (April 12, 2023) -- Pepperdine won its second Western Intercollegiate title in three years on Wednesday, holding off Oregon by nine strokes with a 16-under-par 1,034, at Pasatiempo Golf Club. The Waves’ graduate student Derek Hitchner also became the third-straight Pepperdine player to win individual medalist honors and take home the Blue Jacket.
Pepperdine started the day with a 14-stroke lead over the Ducks after shooting a single-round record 328 (-22) on Tuesday. Conditions were tougher in the final round with swirling winds, but the Waves were able to hold off a push from Oregon to take the team title.
Hitchner posted a winning score of 203 (-7) to follow in the footsteps of Dylan Menante (2022) and Joe Highsmith (2021) as individual champions from Pepperdine. Hitchner entered the final round alone in third place, just one stroke back of leaders Sam Choi (Pepperdine) and Owen Avrit (Oregon).
With Hitchner in the clubhouse at seven-under, Avrit came to the 18th hole one stroke back. The senior Duck had a birdie putt to force a playoff, but he was unable to convert, giving Hitchner the individual title.
Jackson Rivera of Southern California recorded a hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth hole from 177 yards.
Yuki Moriyama finished tied for second as the only player in the field to shoot under par in all three rounds (68+67+69=204).
The winner of the last three Western Intercollegiate tournaments have gone on to win the NCAA National Championship (Stanford – 2019, Pepperdine – 2021, Texas – 2022).
76th Western Intercollegiate presented by Titleist
Pasatiempo Golf Club, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Par 70, 6,615 yards
Final 54-hole results
Team scoring
1 |
Pepperdine | 1,034 |
2 |
Oregon | 1,043 |
3 |
California | 1,050 |
4 |
Stanford | 1,068 |
T5 |
Brigham Young | 1,069 |
T5 |
Colorado State | 1,069 |
7 |
UNLV | 1,076 |
8 |
San Diego State | 1,078 |
9 |
Arizona | 1,080 |
10 |
San José State | 1,090 |
11 |
Southern California | 1,092 |
12 |
Washington | 1,093 |
13 |
Hawai‘i | 1,096 |
14 |
UC Irvine | 1,100 |
Leading individuals
1 |
Derek Hitchner, Pepperdine | 68-64-71-203 (-7) |
T2 |
Yuki Moriyama, UNLV | 68-67-69-204 (-6) |
| Owen Avrit, Oregon | 65-66-73-204 (-6) | |
4 |
Sam Choi, Pepperdine | 66-65-74-205 (-5) |
5 |
Sampson Zheng | 66-70-70-206 (-4) |
T6 |
Christoph Bleier, Colorado State | 70-69-69-208 (-2) |
| Caden Fioroni, UNLV | 68-66-74-208 (-2) | |
| Darien Zhao, UC Irvine | 67-68-73-208 (-2) | |
| Davis Bryant, Colorado State | 67-70-71-208 (-2) | |
| Gregory Solhaug, Oregon | 64-75-69-208 (-2) | |
| Aaron Du, California | 63-74-71-208 (-2) | |
| Keanu Akina, Brigham Young | 66-68-74-208 (-2) |