Pepperdine Waves women’s golfer Jeneath Wong will have a chance to tee off on one of the most prestigious golf courses in the world this spring.
Wong, a freshman from Melbourne, Australia, is one of the top 72 women’s amateur golfers on the globe who will compete in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, March 29 to April 1. The final round of the 54-hole competition will be played at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The venue is annually the site of the Masters Tournament, one of professional golf’s top events.
Wong said it is an honor to be invited to play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and to golf against the top amateurs in the world.
“My family has been very supportive of my golf and I am excited to have them travel from Australia to be part of such a memorable and impeccable experience at Augusta National,” Wong explained in a statement from Pepperdine Athletics.
The tournament’s first 36 holes will be played at Champions Retreat Golf Club, also in Augusta.
Afterwards, the field will be cut to 30 golfers and the showcase will move to Augusta National.
Wong is ranked 50th in the World Amateur Golf rankings. She won several tournaments last year, including the Women’s Australian Master of the Amateurs and the Portsea and Port Phillip Open Amateurs. Additionally, Wong finished third in the Southeast Asian Games and 18th in the Women’s Amateur Asia Pacific.
The first-year Wave won all five Metropolitan Women’s Club Championship from 2018 to 2022 and repeated tournament titles at the Riversdale Cup in 2020 and 2021 and Joan Fisher Plate and the Victorian Champion of Champions in 2019 and 2020. In high school she won the Victoria State Golf Championships in 2021 and 2022.
Wong was also successful as a junior golfer. She captured Victoria Junior Amateur championships from 2020 to 2022 and won the Victoria Junior Masters and Australian Girls Amateur in 2021 and 2022. Wong finished on top at the Adidas Golf Junior 6s Tour Rosebud, Adidas Junior 6s Tour World and Jack Newton International Junior Classic last year.
The Pepperdine golf season begins at the Feb. 12-14 Therese Hession Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes Estates.
Waves head coach Laurie Gibbs said Wong is a great addition to the Pepperdine squad.
“She has a tremendous resume of tournament success over the last 18 months,” Gibbs noted. “She has a wonderful personality that keeps her very calm on the golf course. Having recently graduated from high school in Australia, we look forward to helping her grow as a person and highly competitive golfer over the next three and a half years.”
Additionally, Gibbs, in her 30th season coaching the Waves, recently signed a contract extension to remain the squad’s coach through the 2028 season.
The Women’s Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame member said she has been blessed to be Pepperdine’s coach since 1993.
“Our success has been the result of so many wonderful people at the university, the golf courses that have allowed our team to play and those that have given the financial support to allow us to compete against the best teams in the country,” she said. “Without outstanding young ladies competing for our team and representing the university with the highest integrity, my journey as their coach would have ended long ago.”
Gibbs has coached the Waves to 19 West Coast Conference championships in the last 24 tournaments. Her teams have won 55 team tournament titles and had 56 individual medalist honors.
Gibbs’s Pepperdine teams have appeared 12 times in the NCAA Championships and have finished in the top 10 nationally eight times and in the top five four times.
Gibbs has won a host of Coach of the Year honors and has guided the Waves women’s golf program from one with limited funding and resources to a program recognized across the nation.
Pepperdine Athletics Director Dr. Steve Potts said Gibbs is the heart and soul of Pepperdine women’s golf.
“She has built a program that consistently competes for championships and has done so with the utmost integrity,” he stated. “We are fortunate to have Laurie continue to lead and teach the amazing young women in our program.”
Gibbs explained that without the women in her program, her time as Pepperdine’s coach would have ended long ago.
“I welcome the challenge to continue our success and validate Dr. Potts’ decision to offer me an extension,” she said.