Wong and Zhu won first round matches befoe falling in second round; Romero named All-American Scholar
Pepperdine women’s golfers Jeneath Wong and Yingzhi Zhu advanced to the second round of match play at the 122nd Women’s North and South Amateur in Pinehurst, North Carolina, late last month.
Both Waves began the three-day tournament at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club with an opening round victory on June 26 before being defeated in the second round the next day.
Pepperdine head coach Laurie Gibbs said it was great to see the golfers playing well.
“We look forward to have a young team compete in the 2024-25 season against the top teams in the country,” she stated.
Zhu, a junior, defeated Ole Miss’s Sophie Linder in the first round. Zhu birdied the first hole and held the advantage over Linder throughout the match. Zhu also nailed a birdie on the fifth hole; however Linder evened the score on the 15th hole. Zhu then won the 16th and 17th holes in order to advance.
Wong, a junior Golfweek All-American, beat the College of Charleston’s Adrian Anderson in the opening round. The golfers were tied for the first four holes. Anderson won the fifth and seventh holes to take the lead. Wong then won consecutive holes and then captured the 13th and 14th holes. Anderson won back-to-back holes to even the score. The match was tied after the 18th hole. Wong won the 19th hole to take the match.
In the second round, Wong lost to SMU’s Mackenzie Lee, and Zhu was beaten by Kylee Choi, a high school golfer from Georgia.
Waves senior golfer Lauren Gomez was defeated by Wake Forest’s Macy Pate in the first round. Gomez won the first two rounds against Pate, who was the top overall seed, and didn’t trail until Pate won the 17th hole. Pate then won the 18th and 19th holes.
In other golf news, Pepperdine’s Kaleiya Romero was named a Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar for the fourth consecutive season on July 1.
Romero earned a 3.593 GPA studying psychology. On the golf course, she had a 73.00 scoring average with four top-10 finishes and five top-20 finishes in nine tournaments this season.
Romero, who graduated this year, is also a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District At-Large honoree for the second time and a four-time West Coast Conference Honor Roll “silver” honoree and Pepperdine Scholar-Athlete. Romero is also a four-time All-WCC first team selection.
She is the only player in Wave history to garner four straight WGCA All-American Scholar and All-WCC first-team selections. Romero is the 14th Wave to have earned WGCA All-American Scholar honor.
Pepperdine golfers will compete in the July 15-20 Women’s Western Amateur at Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest, Illinois, and the July 23-25 Ladies National Golf Association Amateur Championship at the Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The team will also play in the Aug. 1-4 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at the Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, British Columbia, and the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.