Mouw leads the way as Pepperdine stages rally to top elite field in The Amer Ari Invitational

   It appears that Pepperdine’s victory over a field filled with tough Pac-12 competitors in the Southwestern Invitational a couple of weeks ago vaulted the Waves to the top of the latest Golfstat rankings.

   Maybe Pepperdine wanted to make sure nobody thinks its No. 1-ranking is some kind of fluke. Maybe it was just that the Waves were in familiar surroundings as the host team for the Southwestern. Maybe  the Waves got a little bit of a jump with that Southwestern victory over some of the standout teams they were facing in The Amer Ari Invitational that were teeing it up for the first time in the spring portion of the wraparound 2019-2020 season.

   Yeah, well, say what  you want, but Pepperdine is no joke. The Waves fired a sizzling 18-under-par 270 over the Waikoloa Resort’s Kings’ Course in Waikoloa, Hawaii in Saturday’s final round to rally for a two-shot victory in The Amer Ari Invitational over some of Division I’s royalty.

   Golfstat hasn’t updated its men’s rankings, but it does put current rankings for the top teams next to the school in the results for the particular event it is reporting on and there is no mistaking that blue No. 1 next to Pepperdine’s name atop The Amer Ari heap.

   The 7,074-yard, par-72 Kings’ Course at Waikoloa is not the toughest course these guys are going to face this spring. The birdies come in bunches and Pepperdine’s 39-under 825 total was still eight shots higher than the astounding 47-under that Oklahoma State team that featured Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff – you can watch those two guys most weekends on the PGA Tour these days – put up in winning The Amer Ari a year ago.

   But if going low was the challenge, Pepperdine certainly answered it. And the really scary part about this victory is that freshmen William Mouw of Chino, Calif. and No. 25 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Dylan Menante of Carlsbad, Calif. led the way in Saturday’s final round and they weren’t even among the starting five for the Southwestern.

   Veteran Pepperdine head coach Michael Beard just couldn’t deny the two youngsters a spot in the starting lineup and they made their head coach look pretty smart.

   Mouw had a birdie-eagle finish, draining a 45-foot putt on the 18^th hole, to tie Arizona State’s Mason Andersen, a junior from Chandler, Ariz., for the individual title at 13-under 203. The blazing finish enabled Mouw, a qualifying co-medalist in last summer’s U.S. Junior Amateur at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, to fire a sizzling final round of 8-under 64.

   Mouw proceeded to win the playoff on the first hole to earn his first college tournament victory.

   Pepperdine, the two-time reigning West Coast Conference champion, actually opened with a somewhat pedestrian 7-under 281 in Thursday’s first round, but moved up with a solid 14-under 274 in Friday’s second round. Still, the Waves trailed Atlantic Coast Conference champion Georgia Tech, ranked No. 2, by 12 shots going into Saturday’s final round and there were plenty of highly-ranked teams between them and the top spot.

   But with Menante adding a pretty strong 7-under 65 to his fellow freshman Mouw’s 8-under 64, the Waves made like surfer dudes in the Hawaiian paradise, soaring past everybody with their final-round 270 and 39-under 825 total.

   The runnerup to Stanford in the Final Match of the NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. last spring, Texas, a tad underrated at No. 19, closed with a 9-under 279 to claim runnerup honors in The Amer Ari with a 37-under 827 total.

   No. 10 Arizona State out of the Pac-12, which shared second place 17 shots behind Pepperdine in the Southwestern, rode the strong showing by Andersen to finish a shot behind Texas in third place at 36-under 828. Andersen’s final-round 65 helped the Sun Devils finish up with a 10-under 278.

   Not sure what Oklahoma State, which fell to Big 12 rival Texas in the semifinals last spring at The Blessings, is ranked, but the Cowboys’ ranking will undoubtedly go up after their fourth-place finish. Oklahoma State, the reigning Big 12 champion, posted a blistering 17-under 271 of its own in the final round to finish a shot behind Arizona State at 36-under 828.

    It’s a rebuilding year for the Cowboys, but they don’t exactly rebuild in Stillwater, more like reload.

   The best round of the tournament belonged to the No. 2 Yellow Jackets, who built a five-shot lead following their sizzling 19-under 269 in the second round. But Georgia Tech, which saw a promising postseason fizzle at The Blessings last spring, closed with a 1-under 287 to finish alone in fifth place, a shot behind Oklahoma State at 34-under 830.

   Southeastern Conference power Auburn, ranked 23^rd, was another shot behind Georgia Tech in sixth place with a 33-under 831 total after the Tigers closed with a strong 16-under 272.

   Auburn was the runnerup to Oklahoma State by 10 shots with an 837 total a year ago and the Tigers come back with a 33-under total for sixth this year. They have to be wondering what they have to do to win this thing.

   No. 4 Texas Tech, another Big 12 entry, closed with a final round of 7-under 281 to finish five shots behind Auburn in seventh place in the tough 15-team field with a 28-under 836 total.

   Mouw opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 4-under 68 before his explosive finish left him tied atop the individual standings with Auburn’s Andersen.

   Backing up Mouw was Pepperdine’s redshirt senior, Sahith Theegala, who closed with an even-par 72 to join a group of four players tied for sixth place at 10-under 206. Theegala of Chino Hills, Calif., coming off an individual victory in the Southwestern that enabled him to rise to No. 5 in the WAGR, kept the Waves afloat with a sparkling 6-under 66 in the opening round and added a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round.

   After I posted about the Southwestern, I saw a video that showed Theegala finishing off his one-shot victory in a Kobe Bryant jersey to honor the Lakers star, who had died in a tragic helicopter crash earlier that week and whom Theegala idolized growing up in the Los Angeles area.

   Menante’s final-round fireworks enabled him to finish among the group tied for 14^th place with an 8-under 208 total.

   Joey Vrzich, a junior from El Cajon, Calif. came on strong for the Waves with a second straight 3-under 69 to finish among the group tied for 21^st place at 6-under 210.

   Rounding out the Pepperdine lineup was Clay Feagler, a senior from Laguna Niguel, Calif. who closed with a 2-over 74 to finish among the group tied for 56^th place at even-par 216. Feagler contributed a 3-under 69, a key counter, in Friday’s second round.

   Beard brought along Derek Hitchner, a sophomore from Minneapolis, to compete as an individual and Hitchner joined Feagler in the group tied for 56^th place at even-par 216 after Hitchner closed with a 2-under 70.

   Andersen had a strong showing in taking runnerup honors with the playoff loss to Mouw. His final-round 65 came after a pair of 3-under 69s in the first and second rounds.

   One of the guys chasing home Mouw and Andersen was just the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, Georgia Tech’s Andy Ogletree, a senior from Little Rock, Miss and No. 21 in the WAGR. Ogletree backed up his winning performance at Pinehurst by helping the United State rally to claim a 15.5-10.5 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup Match at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England.

   Ogletree started strong, adding a 6-under 66 in the second round to his opening-round 68 before closing with a 2-under 70 that left him in a tie for third place with Oklahoma State’s Aman Gupta, a sophomore from Concord, N.C., at 12-under 204, a shot behind the top two. Gupta opened with a sparkling 7-under 65 and added a 4-under 68 before backing off with a 1-under 71 in the final round.

   Texas junior Pierceson Coody, one of the Longhorns’ twin grandsons of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody out of Plano, Texas and No. 15 in the WAGR, finished alone in fifth place at 11-under 205. Coody finished strong with a 6-under 66 in Friday’s second round and a 5-under 67 in Saturday’s final round.

   Ogletree’s Georgia Tech teammate Tyler Strafaci, a senior from Davie, Fla., had the individual lead going into the final round after opening with an 8-under 64, matching Mouw for the low round of the week, and adding a 5-under 67 for a 13-under 131 total. Strafaci backed off with a final round of 3-over 75, but he joined Pepperdine’s Theegala in the foursome tied for sixth place at 10-under 206.

   Rounding out that quartet at 206 were Auburn teammates Jovan Rebula, a senior from South Africa and No. 29 in the WAGR, and Grayson Huff, a senior from Eagle, Idaho who was competing as an individual.

   Rebula is the nephew of Ernie Els and won The Amateur Championship in 2018 at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Scotland. He beat Huff in a playoff for the SEC individual crown last spring.

   After opening with a pair of 4-under 68s, Rebula closed with a 2-under 70 to get it to 10-under. After opening with a 70, Huff carded a 5-under 67 in the second round before posting a final-round 69 and probably earning himself some consideration for a spot in the starting lineup for the Tigers.