Pepperdine takes NCAA Men's National Championship & AJGA Alum wins Fred Haskins Award

On June 2, the Pepperdine men's golf team claimed their second NCAA Men's Golf National Championship, defeating Oklahoma 3-2 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. This was the program's second national title and first since 1997.

All nine players on Pepperdine's roster are AJGA alumni. Five of these men were Rolex Junior All-Americans at some point in their junior careers. Between the nine of them, they had a combined 12 AJGA tournament victories.

• Clay Feagler of Laguna Niguel, California
• Joe Highsmith of Lakewood, Washington
• Derek Hitchner of Minneapolis, Minnesota
• RJ Manke of Lakewood, Washington
• Joshua McCarthy of Danville, California
• Dylan Menante of Carlsbad, California
• William Mouw of Chino, California
• Austin Murphy of Morgan Hill, California
• Joey Vrzich of El Cajon, California

The Oklahoma Sooner's team consists of 15 men, 14 of whom are AJGA alumni. Five were named Rolex Junior All-Americans as juniors and they have nine AJGA tournament victories between them.

• Tucker Allen of Tolar, Texas
• Jonathan Brightwell of Charlotte, North Carolina
• Stephen Campbell Jr. of Richmond, Texas
• Riley Casey of Abilene, Texas
• Quade Cummins of Weatherford, Oklahoma
• Jaxon Dowell of Edmond, Oklahoma
• Jake Holbrook of Granbury, Texas
• Turner Hosch of Dallas, Texas
• Thomas Johnson of Norman, Oklahoma
• Ben Lorenz of Peoria, Arizona
• Blake Lorenz of Peoria, Arizona
• Logan McAllister of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Garett Reband of Fort Worth, Texas
• Lane Wallace of Yukon, Oklahoma
• Patrick Welch of Aliso Viejo, California

Nine out of the ten men who competed in the championship match were AJGA alumni. In the first match of the day, Brightwell of Oklahoma defeated Menante of Pepperdine, 1-up. Highsmith and Mouw from Pepperdine both went on to win their matches 4&3 against Reband and Cummins, respectively. Feagler then clinched the title for Pepperdine when he defeated Lorenz of Oklahoma, 1-up. Following Feagler's match, Vrzich's match was abandoned after 17 holes with McAllister leading by one.

The five Rolex Junior All-Americans from Pepperdine are Highsmith, Hitchner, McCarthy, Menante, and Mouw. McCarthy and Menante each won three AJGA tournaments, while Mouw finished his junior career with two AJGA victories. One of those wins came at the Thunderbird International Junior, also hosted at Grayhawk Golf Club. Oklahoma's five Rolex Junior All-Americans are Campbell Jr., Casey, Hosch, McAllister, and Reband.

On June 1, John Pak of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, was given the prestigious Fred Haskins Award. Pak, a senior at Florida State University, is the first Seminole to earn this award, which recognizes the top player in men’s collegiate golf. He finished fifth in the individual competition at the NCAA Men's Golf National Championship held earlier in the week. Following the NCAA Championship, Pak finished No. 1 in the final ranking of the inaugural PGA TOUR University Class, earning a Korn Ferry Tour card for the 2021 season.

As a junior golfer, Pak was a three-time Rolex Junior All-American in 2015, 2016, and 2017. He had one AJGA tournament victory at the 2014 AJGA Annapolis Junior and seven additional top-five finishes from 2012-2017.