Senior William Mouw follows through on the first tee at the East Lake Cup in Atlanta on Oct. 24. Mouw was tied for 15th place, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Photo courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics
The Pepperdine Men’s Golf team won the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship — their first national title since 1977. Head Coach Michael Beard is hoping to build on that success in the upcoming season, starting Jan. 30, at the Southwestern Invitational.
Men’s Golf welcomed in three new transfers and a freshman this fall, making up four of the seven roster spots. The newcomers to this team are graduate students Luke Gifford, Sam Choi, Roberto Nieves and freshman Brady Siravo.
“We’ve got to work with the new guys quite a bit and help them get equipped for the courses, along with what we are focused on as a program,” Beard said.
Beard was the 2020 National Coach of the Year and the head coach of the 2021 Pepperdine NCAA champions.
He was head coach for 8 of the top 10 players in career scoring average at Pepperdine and has brought the team five WCC titles during his time at the University.
Men’s Golf began the fall season with an underwhelming performance at the Fighting Illini Invitational.
“We got off to a slow start, finishing 13th at Olympia fields,” Beard said. “The season progressed; we began to click and come together as a team.”
Senior William Mouw led the Waves at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational going seven under par, putting him in 2nd place for the tournament — one shot behind TCU’s Gustav Frimodt.
Associate Coach Chris Zambri was a tremendous help to the team throughout the fall season, Mouw said.
“He’s helped us work on our numbers, getting those tightened up, allowing for better yardage control, knowing where to miss,” Mouw said. “Running tests and looking at those stats with Chris has been important to me, and it’s been fun.”
As the head coach at USC for 14 years, Zambri took the Trojans to the finals 12 times. He played six years on the Nationwide tour, and he appeared in four PGA tour events throughout his career, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Transfer Spotlight
The three transfer students who joined Pepperdine Men’s Golf are Gifford, Choi and Nieves.
Gifford graduated from the University of South Florida in 2022. He won the 2017 Dixie Amateur and the 2017 AJGA Open and participated in the 2020 and 2022 US Amateur Championships.
Gifford had a stroke average of 72.9 over the course of 10 rounds, including a 76-68-69 at the Ben Hogan Collegiate invitational, putting him two under par on day two – Gifford’s best individual round in the fall.
Choi played golf at the University of New Mexico for four years. In his final season at UNM, he had seven top-five finishes in his 13 appearances. In Choi’s 39 rounds played, 26 of them were par or better. Golfstat ranked him 29th NCAA golfer after the 2020-21 season — Choi averaged 70.83 strokes per round.
His best round took place at GC of Georgia with a total stroke count of 209 (68-70-71) – this put him at seven under for the tournament.
Nieves, University of Delaware alumnus (’22), holds the three lowest stroke averages in Delaware history and had victorious outings at the 2020 Loyola intercollegiate and the 2021 Wildcat Fall Invitational.
In Nieves’s first season at Pepperdine, he averaged a stroke score of 76.0 over six rounds.
“I really enjoy the transfers that came over to Pepperdine. We all have the same common goal,” Mouw said. “We play for championships here at Pepperdine.”
Freshman Contribution
Siravo graduated from Jesuit High School in 2022. As a freshman, he made it to the CIF state championship and finished off his high school career with the US Junior Amateur tournament.
Siravo played in the Ben Hogan Collegiate invitational and rose to the occasion, averaging 71.33 strokes over the three-day event.
Looking Ahead
“Our mindset going into the season is to take things one practice at a time, one tournament at a time,” Mouw said. “I’m looking forward to see what we are capable of this spring semester.”
The Waves kick off the season Jan. 30, at the Southwestern Invitational — Golf Channel will broadcast the event.
Following the opening tournament at Westlake Village, Calif., Men’s Golf has six more tournaments before the WCC Championship — Amer Ari Invitational, The Prestige, Southern Highlands Collegiate, NIT, Valspar Collegiate and Western Intercollegiate.
“These guys have a great bond,” Beard said. “Everyone’s looking forward to gaining experience and creating memories at different tournaments throughout the year.”
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