Former Pepperdine star Derek Hitchner captures first Pro Victory
By McKenzie Jackson · Sun Aug 16 2026
The ex-Waves national champion birdied the opening playoff hole to win the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship, earning his first professional title
Former Pepperdine Waves men’s golfer Derek Hitchner nabbed the first trophy of his professional career on Aug. 2.
Hitchner birdied the first hole of a five-man playoff to win the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship at Ogden Golf & Country Club in South Ogden.
Hitchner, a 2023 Pepperdine graduate, told media he had been struggling with his golf game ahead of the tournament.
“This is kind of a surprise, and a huge blessing,” he said.
Hitchner — a member of the Waves’ 2021 national championship-winning squad and the West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Year in 2023 — was part of the largest playoff field in Korn Ferry Tour history, joining Cole Hammer, Mason Anderson, Tommy Morrison, and Travis Trace. After 72 holes, all five golfers were tied at 21-under.
Each player landed on the green with their approach shots. Hitchner sank his birdie — after Anderson, Hammer, and Trace missed their putts — claiming the tournament victory.
Hitchner joked that he didn’t know what he was thinking before making the winning shot.
“I had a very similar putt a couple of holes ago, on 17, where it was just slightly outside the left edge, and thankfully from my angle it was a continuous breaking putt,” he said. “As opposed to a double-breaking putt. It just felt that if I kind of started it on line with a little bit of speed, it would filter toward the hole — and miraculously, I was able to do that.”
Along with the event’s trophy, Hitchner won the $180,000 prize and moved up the Korn Ferry Tour points list from 136th to 26th.
The golfer had missed cuts in six of his past seven starts before that Utah tournament.
“I felt like I had the tools needed to play well the rest of the year based on what I saw this week,” Hitchner said. “So, I was really happy about that. Obviously, just with how this has all turned out makes it pretty incredible.”
He added that winning the tournament reveals that “the arc of progress can be slow” and said he knew good things were on the horizon.
“Thankfully, that is what happened,” Hitchner said.