Champion Sahith Theegala (Pepperdine Men's Golf photo)

Playing their home course, North Ranch Country Club, the Waves took full advantage from the start. Back-to-back 66's from Theegala as well as a 67 and 70 from freshman Clay Feagler put the Waves fifteen shots ahead entering the final round.

With the course playing much more difficult in the final round, Pepperdine held on with solid performances from Roy Cootes (70), freshman Josh McCarthy (72), and Feagler (71). The 1-under final round gave the Waves a 21-under 843 total (275-281-287), 16 shots clear of USC.

“We had some good form coming in but playing your home tournament can sometimes add some pressure, plus you’re competing against USC, which has a great team,” Pepperdine Coach Michael Beard said. “But our guys played solid. It usually doesn’t happen out of nowhere, you have to build up to it. We finished second twice against good fields, and everyone was confident this week. It feels great.”

Theegala, 10-under, wrapped up the medalist honors by one shot over SMU's Alex Higgs while teammates Feagler (T3) and Cootes (T8) finished inside the top 10.

This is Theegala's first collegiate win and it comes just over a week removed from making the cut at the Genesis Open.

“I didn’t play that well today but I put myself in a good position with the first two rounds,” Theegala said. “I was just trying to have fun. The last couple weeks have been unbelievable.”

The top five final standings are as follows: Pepperdine (843), USC (859), Lipscomb University (866), Washington State (868), and SMU (870).

-Pepperdine Athletics contributed to this story

DAY ONE RECAP

Pepperdine sophomore Sahith Theegala continues to play full of confidence and on Monday he led his Waves to the first day lead of the Southwestern Invitational. With second round play suspended due to darkness Pepperdine is 21-under thanks in large part to the 12-under Theegala.

Playing at North Ranch Country Club Theegala was able to complete 36-holes with consecutive 6-under 66's. Throughout the day Theegala, who recently made the cut at the Genesis Open, rolled in 11 birdies, one eagle and just a single bogey on his final hole of the day.

The closest competitor to Theegala is teammate Clay Feagler who at 7-under is tied for second along with USC's Rico Hoey and SMU's Alex Higgs.

With the help of Hoey the No. 4 Trojans are 6-under and in second place, Washington State is third and done with the second round while Lipscomb and SMU are sharing fifth at even-par.