When William Mouw poured in a well-timed eagle from 40 feet on the closing hole of the Waikoloa Kings’ Course in Hawaii, players standing 200 yards back in the fairway knew about it. It was an out-of-character moment (“Come on, baby!”) for the freshman born of a game-changing eagle.
“I’m trying to downplay it a little bit,” Pepperdine head coach Michael Beard said, laughing. “He went nuts.”
Mouw’s moment played a big role in an all-world comeback at the Amer Ari Invitational, setting up what Beard calls the biggest win in his eight seasons as Pepperdine’s coach.
Rallies unfold quickly in college golf. A few minutes before Mouw came through No. 18, Beard had stood in the fairway with freshman Dylan Menante as he pulled a 4-iron from 220 yards and stuck it to 6 feet to set up an eagle of his own. Two Pepperdine birdies followed before Mouw came through with the second eagle. Pepperdine counters played the hole in 6 under.
Scores: Amer Ari Invitational
“It was happening so fast I didn’t even really get a chance to see what other teams were doing,” Beard said of the finish. “It just felt like, who knows what’s going to happen at the end but we’re going to be pretty close.”
Remarkably, Pepperdine was 12 shots out of it entering the final round at Waikoloa. The Waves went 18 under in the final round, ended the week at 39 under and have now won two spring titles before many teams have even teed it up once. That makes three wins this season.
Pepperdine’s roster inspires big expectations, from Mouw and Menante on up to redshirt senior Sahith Theegala, whose recovery birdie on No. 18 (right after a double-bogey at No. 17) was just as important as the freshman fireworks.
What an incredible comeback as Pepperdine begins the day 12 shots back but rallies to win the Amer Ari Invitational!#WavesUp pic.twitter.com/Xp7CJug3Ri
— Pepperdine Men’s Golf (@PeppGolf) February 8, 2020
Resumes are deep and heads level. Even when Pepperdine landed at No. 2 in Golfweek’s Preseason Rankings, Beard felt it would have no bearing on his team’s performance this season.
“I don’t get the sense that we’re going to fall in love with ourselves,” he said in September.
Asked to reassess after the Amer Ari win, Beard still feels that rings true.
“It’s always easier to get to the top than to stay there,” he said. “That’s something I’ve learned maybe not coaching, but just golf in general.”
Pepperdine has never been the No. 1-ranked program in the country – not even during a 1997 season that ended with the NCAA title – but the Waves rose to the top of the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings after the Amer Ari.
“It’s not like we’re going to practice every day to get to No. 1,” Beard said. “That’s not like an end goal for us. It’s more about trying to get to the national championship and then trying to find a way to get past that first cut and then get to match play.”
For Theegala, who redshirted last season with a wrist injury, the rise truly has been extreme. Pepperdine bobbed around the No. 100 position in the rankings when Beard was recruiting him. Now they’re No. 1. It’s a big moment for coach and player to share.
None of it happens overnight, of course, and that even goes for the schedule. The Amer Ari is a tournament start Beard has eyed for years. New teams don’t simply sign up. Pepperdine got in when a spot became available and two other teams turned it down ahead of them.
From here, the road is no less arduous, with starts at the Prestige, Southern Highlands and Western Intercollegiate coming down the pipe.
In creating this schedule, Beard looked down the line and saw the pieces were there.
“If they’re really competitive and see themselves as winners, I want to put them out there to push them to get better,” he said. “It was all just kind of a thought. If we’re really going to be good, if these guys’ resumes – if it’s as good as it looks on paper, we’ll see how good they really are if we can get a schedule where we’re playing against the best teams.”
Pepperdine’s 10 men do not break cleanly into an A squad and a B squad. Even the No. 10 player has competed in three tournaments this season. Sophomore Joe Highsmith, winner of the Sahalee Players Championship this summer and arguably the team’s most improved player, hadn’t missed a tournament until he failed to get through team qualifying for the Amer Ari.
Team qualifying is no picnic, and at least a couple spots in the roster for each event are up for grabs that way. A top-10 finish in a tournament guarantees a start the next week. Win, and you keep your spot for the next two events. Beard likes to reserve a coaches’ pick or two, as well.
“It kind of prepares them for when they turn pro because you have to bring your game every week,” Beard said of qualifying. “They’re getting some good time here to figure themselves out when they’re constantly having to perform and compete against others.”
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