Tag: Golfweek Red Sky Challenge

Pepperdine brings back talented core for title defense at Golfweek Red Sky Challenge

Pepperdine is on a roll that dates to April. The Waves have won five of their last six starts, with the latest victory coming in familiar territory.

Pepperdine is on a roll that dates to April. The Waves have won five of their last six starts, with the latest victory coming in familiar territory.

The Golfweek Red Sky Challenge is the team’s second start this fall and second win. In Pepperdine’s title defense at the scenic layout, nestled into the mountains at more than 8,000 feet in Wolcott, Colo., and its fifth victory here overall in the tournament’s 13-year history, the Waves were even par for 54 holes to edge New Mexico State by 10 shots.

“We love playing at beautiful Red Sky and are excited to start the season with two double-digit wins,” head coach Laurie Gibbs said.

Pepperdine’s core of Lion Higo, Kaleiya Romero, Lauren Gomez and Jeneath Wong all finished in the top 12 at Red Sky. KaYee Kwok brought in a T-32 finish. Familiarity is at work in many ways as Pepperdine, which was ranked No. 15 in Golfweek’s preseason rankings, continues to find its way to the top of leaderboards.

A year ago at Red Sky, Gibbs predicted that it could be an exciting year for the Waves. That was before Wong, a talented Australian player, joined the team. She finished in the top 10 four times in the spring.

After winning the West Coast Conference Championship and the NCAA San Antonio Regional, Pepperdine made national championship match play, losing a close quarterfinal match against top-seeded Stanford.

A year ago when Pepperdine won this tournament, the Waves went 18 under to do so. Only UCLA had ever gone lower in event history, reaching 32 under to win in 2018. Next year, the Golfweek Red Sky Challenge field will return to 20 teams, and with the .500 rule debuting in women’s golf, more top-25 teams could find their way to the mountains.

Red Sky is a tricky yet rewarding venue and bared its teeth this week with the help of slick, smooth greens and weather conditions.

“The course was in great shape and greens were rolling at 12.5,” Gibbs said. “The winds picked up mid-round today and hitting greens got to be challenging. Being above the hole on a downhill putt was difficult.”

The challenge makes Alison Gastelum, a New Mexico State senior, like Red Sky that much more. Gastelum won the individual title at 7 under after a final-round 68.

Alison Gastelum, New Mexico State
Alison Gastelum, New Mexico State (Golfweek photo)

“Just (where) it is and how it plays is definitely unique in comparison to a lot of other courses,” she said. “It was definitely more challenging this year than I remember too. The greens were fast, very, very fast, but the course was in great conditions too so it was just a matter of your short game to be up there and just making some putts, right?”

Gastelum did the work, making as many birdies – 13 – as any player in the field. Gastelum had competition for the top spot on the leaderboard throughout the day with Madison Holmes of Central Arkansas. Holmes made a hole-in-one on the par-3 ninth on her way to a closing 70, but Gastelum played the back nine in 2 under to overtake her by two shots.

The Golfweek Red Sky Challenge is Gastelum’s first college title. She called it a “dream come true.”

“Making this my first one at the course that I like, just with my teammates and everybody that was around me at this time,” she said.

New Mexico State has already had a busy fall, having traveled to the Golfweek Fall Challenge in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, and the Badger Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin. Gastelum placed fifth on the team in each of those starts as she struggled with her swing and her mental game.

“This is a very challenging sport, especially mentally, and I know how it works,” she said. “I’ve been playing golf since I was 5 years old so I know how it works, I know that sometimes you can have really, really bad rounds and sometimes you can have probably the best rounds of your life.”

Gastelum concentrated on bringing the game she had to Red Sky and credits her win to a better mentality.

After all, it’s tough to be negative against such a beautiful backdrop.

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Pepperdine women run away with Golfweek Red Sky Classic, showing early in season that they have an edge

The Waves won their second start of the season by 15 shots.

There’s one thing people notice about Pepperdine’s women’s golfers: They’re exceptional putters.

Head coach Laurie Gibbs had other coaches seek her out to tell her so this week at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic, not that anything like that is lost on Gibbs, a 30-year veteran coaching women’s college golf. There’s no magic formula to success, Gibbs said, but the pieces are coming together for the Waves. After going 18 under for 54 holes at Red Sky Golf Club’s Fazio Course in Wolcott, Colorado, this week, Pepperdine won its second start of the season by 15 shots.

Only UCLA in 2018 has ever gone lower (reaching 32 under) over three rounds at Red Sky, a stunning yet tricky layout nestled into the mountains at more than 8,000 feet. In the tournament’s 12-year history at Red Sky, Pepperdine has now won four times.

“I think it’s going to be a really exciting year,” Gibbs said after this latest victory, which came in the Waves’ second fall start. “I think we have a team that could potentially do some really exciting things.”

Junior Lion Higo won the individual title at Red Sky with her 10-under total. It was a much different story from Higo’s experience here last year. Higo, a junior, kept it in the fairway and got hot with her putter this week. If she missed a long putt, she left herself a tap-in.

“It was just some easy golf out there,” she said.

 

Easy pars is a strategy Gibbs has preached to this squad. Two weeks ago at the USF Intercollegiate at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, the Waves led the field in pars and they repeated that at Red Sky.

“That was something that we’ve really been working on where they’re getting good yardages, really feeling comfortable with clubs into the green and I think they were just really committed to playing smart and really working the dispersion,” Gibbs said. “Even though yeah, they want to be aggressive, they felt like OK, I just want to give myself an easy par. And if they’re two-putting for par on every hole, pars are going to win the day. Sometimes you’re relaxed and you start making birdies.”

2022 Golfweek Red Sky Classic
Pepperdine women’s golf junior Lion Higo celebrates after winning the 2022 Golfweek Red Sky Classic individual title at Red Sky Golf Club’s Fazio Course in Wolcott, Colorado. (Photo: Pepperdine)

In a landscape dominated by Power 5 programs – particularly once postseason hits – Pepperdine has always seemed to find an edge. The Waves were a fixture at the NCAA Women’s Championship in the early 2000s – which included a runner-up finish in 2003 – though their last finals appearance came in 2017. As women’s college golf becomes more competitive, the top players have more choices when it comes to recruiting.

“I thought for us, for our edge, that we need five players in it all the time,” Gibbs said, “and I feel like that’s what we have now.”

Behind Higo, Lauren Gomez finished runner-up individually at 7 under. The next three players finished inside the top 22. Pepperdine’s throw-out score in the final round was a 1-over 73.

Gibbs left two competitive players at home this week and in the spring semester, her roster grows to nine. Jeneath Wong, an Australian ranked inside the top 100 in the world, and Charlotte Brook, an up-and-coming talent form England, will arrive in January. The result will be a loaded roster that breeds competition for a spot in the lineup, and that’s reminiscent of the depth Pepperdine’s men’s program has cultivated these past few years. Pepperdine won the NCAA title in 2021 with a roster of nine men who were exceptionally competitive with one another.

“They really watched how our men prepared and they learned a lot,” Gibbs said of her team having a front-row seat to the men’s 2020-21 championship season. “I think they practice a little bit together. It’s kind of a neat relationship and I think both programs are really very supportive of each other.”

Three days after the Golfweek Red Sky Challenge, Pepperdine’s women have to turn around and get on a flight to New Mexico for the Golf Iconic Classic. The spring season picks up in early February, and Pepperdine will play six regular-season events beginning in early February with the Therese Hession Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes near Los Angeles and running through the WCC Championship in mid-April.

“Lots of players will be able to compete but it’s going to be competitive,” Gibbs said of that tournament lineup. “That really drives the players to make sure their game is ready to go, always be ready to play.

“It will be the positive and the challenge, too.”

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