Pepperdine continues hot spring, leads the Prestige after Day 1

The Pepperdine men’s golf team is 9-under after Day 1 and holds a three-shot lead at the Prestige at PGA West in La Quinta, California.

The Pepperdine men’s golf team continues its hot play this spring season, shooting a 9-under 275 to open a three-shot lead at the Prestige on the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California, on Monday.

Pepperdine, the top-ranked team in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings and the No. 2-ranked team in the latest Bushnell coaches poll, was led by Derek Hitchner, who shot a 2-under 70.

Texas Tech is 6 under, Texas is 5 under with UCLA and UC Davis (+1) tied for fourth, 10 shots back.

Iowa State and SMU (+2) are T-6, San Diego State is +3, LSU is +5 and Northwestern and Stanford at T-10 at +6.

Last week, Pepperdine rallied from 12 strokes back and went 18 under on the final day to win the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii. The win was the second of the spring for the Waves.

Now they’re looking at a third.

THE PRESTIGE: Team leaderboard | Individual scores

The Prestige annually features a loaded field and this year’s includes three of the top-10 teams (Pepperdine, No. 6 Texas Tech, No. 7 Texas) as well as No. 15 SMU and defending national champion Stanford.

The third and final rounds on Wednesday can be watched live on Golfweek’s livestream as part of College Golf Live’s 2020 Spring Series. Final round coverage runs from 1-6 p.m. ET.

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