Men's College Golf | West: Waves trying to avoid a close call

West: Waves trying to avoid a close call

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By LANCE RINGLER
Assistant Editor

BREMERTON, Wash. – Much has been said this year about several teams near the very top of the college golf world: Alabama, Georgia, USC, Charlotte and Oklahoma State to name a few. But this year moreso than ever we are seeing that you can dive deep to find teams that can compete.

Pepperdine is one of those teams that has spent most of the year in the shadows of the top 25. The Waves are trying to cast a shadow this week at the NCAA West Regional at Gold Mountain Golf Club’s Olympic Course.

After an opening-round 292 that left it in fifth place, Pepperdine carded a second-round 301 and is tied for seventh place. The top 10 teams advance to the NCAA Championship May 28-31 in West Lafayette, Ind.

USC leads the 27-team field after posting a 5-under 283 to finish two rounds at 5-under 574. All five Trojans turned in sub-par rounds Friday, with Rory Hie leading the way at 2-under 70, while the other four carded 1-under 71s.

Pepperdine used a good opening round to get into position.

“Yesterday was nice to finish the round on the positive side,” said Pepperdine coach John Geiberger. “On the flip side, we just didn’t finish this round as well, but at least we are within barking distance.”

In Geiberger’s first season at Pepperdine (1996-97), his team won the national championship. Since then, the Waves have made it back to the finals four times in 10 years. In 2002 the Waves placed eighth and in 2004 they were 10th. But, the regionals are where Pepperdine rides the wave – no pun intended.

Getting into the postseason has not been an issue. Pepperdine has participated in regional play in 15 of the past 16 years. Under Geiberger, the Waves have played in 10 of the past 11 regional tournaments and have lived on the edge.

“I have always said one year I want to make it easily,” Geiberger said. “We seem to always sneak in by five shots or less.”

Geiberger is well aware of his team’s misses, too: “twice by one shot and in a playoff once and last year by two.”

In three of the four years the Waves have advanced to the finals, they’ve finished ninth at their regional. In 2005, Pepperdine tied for 10th and lost in a playoff. In the five misses, Pepperdine has placed no worse than 14th.

Geiberger’s lineup this year has seen each player record at least one finish inside the top 11.

Andrew Putnam and Jesse Barnsley have been Pepperdine’s top two performers this year, but this week Eric Shriver (pictured) provided a big lift in the first round. Shriver, a senior who played his first two seasons at Arkansas, carded a 2-under 70, but struggled a bit on Day 2, which is something that has been common with this year’s team.

“We are just looking for all five of us to step up at the same time,” said Barnsley, a senior. “We have not been ham and egging well at all. If we can get everybody going well at the same time and hopefully tomorrow that will happen, we won’t have anything to worry about.”

The many close calls have not caused Geiberger to change a thing.

“I just try to prepare them during the season and try to do the same at this tournament as I would do in any other tournament,” said Geiberger. “One thing I try to emphasize is be clear in your decision making. When it all comes down to the end if we are all thinking smart and executing just decently we should be OK.”

Geiberger looks at it very simply.

“I have a philosophy. One of two things is going to happen – you are going to make it or not going to make it. You can sweat it bad, too bad. You just hope everybody is ready to play and up for the challenge.

Just 18 holes remain and the Waves are in familiar territory. One thing is probably for sure. Pepperdine will probably make it close towards the end of final round.

• • •

Lance Ringler is a Golfweek assistant editor. To reach him e-mail lringler@golfweek.com.

Scores with relation to par from the second round of the NCAA Men’s West Regional, played May 16 at the par-72, 7,111-yard Gold Mountain Golf Club (Olympic) in Bremerton, Wash. (Note: y-played as individual):

TEAMS
1. Southern California	291-283--574		-2
2. Oregon	289-290--579	+	3
3. Clemson	295-285--580	+	4
4. UCLA	291-294--585	+	9
4. Washington	291-294--585	+	9
6. Arizona St.	304-285--589	+	13
7. Pepperdine	292-301--593	+	17
7. Stanford	296-297--593	+	17
7. Kentucky	302-291--593	+	17
10. Wisconsin	304-290--594	+	18
11. Saint Mary	294-301--595	+	19
11. Oklahoma	306-289--595	+	19
13. Oregon St.	302-295--597	+	21
14. Texas Tech	302-296--598	+	22
14. Texas	299-299--598	+	22
16. California	305-296--601	+	25
16. North Carolina	295-306--601	+	25
18. UCF	301-302--603	+	27
19. Kansas St.	305-299--604	+	28
20. San Diego St.	302-303--605	+	29
21. Florida St.	304-305--609	+	33
22. Denver	309-301--610	+	34
23. UNLV	301-311--612	+	36
24. Louisiana St.	304-313--617	+	41
25. San Diego	308-310--618	+	42
26. Navy	312-309--621	+	45
27. Columbia	314-327--641	+	65
• • •
INDIVIDUALS
1. Joey Benedetti, Oregon	69-69--138		-6
2. Dan Woltman, Wisconsin	71-68--139		-5
3. Nick Taylor, Washington	71-69--140		-4
4. Michael McRae, Saint Mary	72-69--141		-3
5. Rory Hie, USC	72-70--142		-2
6. James Byrne, ASU	73-70--143		-1
6. Kevin Chappell, UCLA	71-72--143		-1
6. Erik Flores, UCLA	73-70--143		-1
6. Tom Glissmeyer, USC	72-71--143		-1
6. Jamie Lovemark, USC	72-71--143		-1
6. Derek Sipe, Oregon	72-71--143		-1
12. Rob Grube, Stanford	71-73--144		E
12. Sihwan Kim, Stanford	73-71--144		E
12. y-Troy Merritt, Boise St.	73-71--144		E
12. Phillip Mollica, Clemson	76-68--144		E
16. Tyler Obermueller, Wisconsin	74-71--145	+	1
16. Sam Saunders, Clemson	73-72--145	+	1
18. Phillip Bryan, Oklahoma	74-72--146	+	2
18. Tze Huang Choo, Washington	74-72--146	+	2
18. Aaron Goldberg, San Diego St.	73-73--146	+	2
18. Jeff Koprivetz, Denver	76-70--146	+	2
18. Liam Logan, Oklahoma	76-70--146	+	2
18. y-Jimmy Lytle, Elon	74-72--146	+	2
18. Ben Martin, Clemson	74-72--146	+	2
18. Eric Shriver, Pepperdine	70-76--146	+	2
18. Tim Sluiter, USC	75-71--146	+	2
27. Cale Barr, Kentucky	74-73--147	+	3
27. Matthew Giles, USC	76-71--147	+	3
27. Lance Lopez, Texas	76-71--147	+	3
27. Braxton Marquez, ASU	77-70--147	+	3
27. Kyle Stanley, Clemson	72-75--147	+	3
27. Isaiah Telles, Oregon	71-76--147	+	3
27. Alex Volpenhein, Kentucky	74-73--147	+	3
27. Andrew Widmar, Pepperdine	73-74--147	+	3
35. James Allenby, Oregon St.	75-73--148	+	4
35. Chadd Cocco, Saint Mary	72-76--148	+	4
35. Greg Forest, UCF	75-73--148	+	4
35. Charlie Holland, Texas	74-74--148	+	4
35. Chase MacFarland, UNC	72-76--148	+	4
35. Jesse Schutte, Oklahoma	77-71--148	+	4
35. Diego Velasquez, Oregon St.	74-74--148	+	4
42. Brian Belden, Kentucky	77-72--149	+	5
42. Zach Bixler, Washington	74-75--149	+	5
42. Reed Darsie, UNC	73-76--149	+	5
42. Evan Derian, California	75-74--149	+	5
42. Phillip Francis, UCLA	73-76--149	+	5
42. Mitchell Gregson, Kansas St.	74-75--149	+	5
42. David May, Clemson	76-73--149	+	5
42. Andrew Putnam, Pepperdine	74-75--149	+	5
42. Robert Streb, Kansas St.	77-72--149	+	5
51. Knut Borsheim, ASU	78-72--150	+	6
51. Johan Carlsson, San Diego St.	77-73--150	+	6
51. Sergio Franky, Texas Tech	75-75--150	+	6
51. George Gandranata, California	75-75--150	+	6
51. Seath Lauer, FSU	74-76--150	+	6
51. y-Brian Locke, Loyola Marymount	74-76--150	+	6
51. Garrett Merrell, Texas Tech	78-72--150	+	6
51. David Miller, Navy	76-74--150	+	6
51. John Peterson, LSU	72-78--150	+	6
51. Giwon Suh, UCF	74-76--150	+	6
51. Darren Wallace, Washington	72-78--150	+	6
51. Chris Ward, Texas Tech	72-78--150	+	6
51. Andy Winings, Kentucky	77-73--150	+	6
51. Kyle Yonke, Kansas St.	76-74--150	+	6
65. Brandon Beck, California	77-74--151	+	7
65. Jonas Blixt, FSU	74-77--151	+	7
65. Bobby Hudson, Texas	73-78--151	+	7
65. Dale Smith, San Diego	75-76--151	+	7
65. Carl Smith IV, Pepperdine	75-76--151	+	7
65. y-Nathan Stamey, NC- Greensboro	75-76--151	+	7
65. Mike Stern, UCF	76-75--151	+	7
65. Henry Zaytoun III, UNC	73-78--151	+	7
65. Danny Zimmerman, Wisconsin	74-77--151	+	7
74. Jordan Cox, Stanford	76-76--152	+	8
74. Will Griffin, Texas Tech	80-72--152	+	8
74. Josh Kelley, Saint Mary	76-76--152	+	8
74. Matt Kinsinger, UNLV	73-79--152	+	8
74. Lucas Lee, UCLA	74-78--152	+	8
74. Jace Moore, Texas	76-76--152	+	8
74. Matthew Savage, FSU	77-75--152	+	8
81. y-Jason D’Amore, Loy.-Marymount	77-76--153	+	9
81. Jack Dukeminier, Oregon	77-76--153	+	9
81. Dodge Kemmer, Stanford	76-77--153	+	9
81. Jesper Kennegard, ASU	76-77--153	+	9
81. Craig Leslie, UCLA	77-76--153	+	9
81. Paul Peterson, Oregon St.	78-75--153	+	9
87. Jarrod Barsamian, LSU	77-77--154	+	10
87. Seung-su Han, UNLV	75-79--154	+	10
87. Vincent Johnson, Oregon St.	81-73--154	+	10
87. Sean Maekawa, Oregon	80-74--154	+	10
87. Eric Mina, California	78-76--154	+	10
87. Eddie Olson, UNLV	77-77--154	+	10
87. Santiago Rivas, Texas Tech	77-77--154	+	10
87. Alex Williams, Oregon St.	75-79--154	+	10
87. Jake Yount, San Diego	75-79--154	+	10
96. Jesse Barnsley, Pepperdine	79-76--155	+	11
96. Daniel Cone, Saint Mary	75-80--155	+	11
96. Stephan Gross, ASU	82-73--155	+	11
96. Stephen Hale, California	82-73--155	+	11
96. Brett Kanda, UNLV	76-79--155	+	11
96. y-Tarquin MacManus, Arizona	80-75--155	+	11
96. Scott Tashie, Denver	75-80--155	+	11
96. Daniel Wax, Denver	79-76--155	+	11
104. Barden Berry, UNC	80-76--156	+	12
104. Joe Ida, Kansas St.	78-78--156	+	12
104. David Johnson, UCF	76-80--156	+	12
104. Robert McRae, Saint Mary	75-81--156	+	12
104. Ji Moon, UNLV	80-76--156	+	12
104. Kevin O’Connell, UNC	77-79--156	+	12
104. David Palm, San Diego St.	76-80--156	+	12
104. John Wise, Washington	78-78--156	+	12
104. Steve Ziegler, Stanford	78-78--156	+	12
113. Kyle Cobb, UCF	79-78--157	+	13
113. Ben Hayes, Navy	80-77--157	+	13
113. Matt Hoffenberg, San Diego St.	76-81--157	+	13
113. Drew Kittleson, FSU	80-77--157	+	13
113. Cameron Knight, FSU	79-78--157	+	13
113. Austin Quinten, Columbia	78-79--157	+	13
113. Clayton Rotz, LSU	78-79--157	+	13
113. Blake Trimble, San Diego	77-80--157	+	13
113. Ryan Wielgus, Navy	78-79--157	+	13
122. Chris Gilman, Denver	79-79--158	+	14
122. Espen Kofstad, Denver	82-76--158	+	14
122. Chad Moscovic, San Diego St.	81-77--158	+	14
122. Brian Noonan, LSU	79-79--158	+	14
126. Ben Blundell, Oklahoma	79-80--159	+	15
126. Brad Doster, Kentucky	83-76--159	+	15
126. Erich Schoen, Navy	80-79--159	+	15
126. Jason Shano, San Diego	81-78--159	+	15
130. Darrin Hall, San Diego	83-77--160	+	16
130. Andrew Loupe, LSU	77-83--160	+	16
130. Chris Renninger, Navy	78-82--160	+	16
133. Clark Granum, Columbia	78-83--161	+	17
133. Justin Lee, Columbia	78-83--161	+	17
135. Cashel Rosier, Columbia	80-82--162	+	18
135. Daniel Wood, Kansas St.	82-80--162	+	18
137. Jeff Kaiser, Wisconsin	85-78--163	+	19
138. Kevin Schultz, Texas	79-85--164	+	20
139. Jordan Elsen, Wisconsin	91-74--165	+	21
140. Tyler Rody, Oklahoma	90-76--166	+	22
141. Gus Quartararo, Columbia	87-83--170	+	26

Posted: 5/16/2008

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