Pepperdine will next tee off in the NCAA Regionals, which begin on May 8
The Pepperdine Waves women’s golf team is West Coast Conference champs for the second consecutive season.
The squad won the WCC Championships on April 22 at the par-72 Olympic Course at Gold Mountain in Bremerton, Washington. The Waves have finished in first place at 20 of the 26 conference championships.
Pepperdine head coach Laurie Gibbs said the Waves have had a great season, which included five tournament wins.
“We are very excited to finish four tournaments in the last five weeks with a WCC championship,” she said.
Junior Kaleiya Romero won the five-team championships’ individual title. She had a career-low round of 5-under 67 on the last day of the three-day event.
Romero’s victory is the fourth consecutive WCC title win by a Waves player. Her teammate, sophomore Lauren Gomez, won it last season and Caroline Hwang won it in 2021. Hira Naveed claimed the championship in 2019.
Gibbs said, “Kaleiya played awesome today with a career-low round of 67 to win by one shot.”
Pepperdine had three-round total of 852 (290-283-279) to finished ahead of second-place BYU by 17 strokes. The Waves’ tally is the team’s best at a WCC tournament by 17 strokes. The 12-under ranks fifth in the record books for lowest 54-hole score.
Waves junior Lion Higo finished second and senior Reese Guzman placed third.
The trio of top-finishing Waves and San Francisco’s Riana Mission, who placed fourth, were the only golfers in the 25-player field to finish under par.
Romero nailed six of her 15 birdies in the third round. Her three-round score was 209 (70-72-67). Romero has finished in the top 10 of five tournaments this season.
Higo also had 15 birdies. Her final score was 210 (73-64-73). In the second round, Higo shot a career-low 8-under 64 for the course record. She has six top-10 tournament finishes this season and 10 top-20 placements. Higo also has 15 below-par rounds this season, second in Pepperdine’s seasonal record books.
Guzman shot 4-under with five of her 11 birdies in the third round. She had 11 birdies in the tournament. Her score was 213 (72-73-68).Guzman has finished in top 10 three times this season.
Additionally, Gomez finished 16th with a score of 223 (78-74-71). She had 10 birdies. Yingzhi Zhu, a freshman, placed 23rd with a score of 230 (75-79-76). She had seven birdies.
Pepperdine will next tee off in the NCAA Regionals, which begin on May 8.