Seven years before
Scottie Scheffler donned his first Green Jacket as a Masters champion, he earned a blue jacket for a victory his at the 2015 Western Intercollegiate on another Alister Mackenzie design: the Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Scheffler, then a freshman at the University of Texas,
shot rounds of 66-68-67 to win the individual title by three strokes over California's Shotaro Ban while the Longhorns cruised to a 14-stroke victory over Oregon. Ironically, the wins by the Longhorns and Scheffler came on the same day another Texas alum, Jordan Spieth, won The Masters.
Buoyed by Scheffler's win on Sunday at The Masters, the return of the Coody twins to its lineup and a recent win at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational, the eighth-ranked Longhorns bring plenty of momentum and karma with them to the 75th Western Intercollegiate, which starts Monday at Pasatiempo.
One of college golf’s most heralded tournaments, the Western Intercollegiate has been held annually since 1947, except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 13 years after the first Masters Tournament. The vast slopes and undulations of Pasatiempo serve as a test of one’s game unvarnished by the passing of time.
Scottie Scheffler won the 2015 Western Intercollegiate Its past individual winners boast impeccable PGA Tour resumes. Ken Venturi (1949, 1951), Johnny Miller (1968), Mark O’Meara (1978), and Scheffler (2015) went on to win majors on tour. Jerry Heard (1967), Howard Twitty (1972), Peter Jacobson (1974), Mark Lye (1975), Bobby Clampett (1980), Jay Don Blake (1981), Rick Fehr (1982), Duffy Waldorf (1985), Sam Randolph (1986), and Arron Oberholser (1996) won individual titles on tour, along with current PGA players Patrick Rogers (2012) and Maverick McNealy (2016). Seventy-five alumni who played in the Western Intercollegiate later won on the PGA.
The 14-team field includes host San Jose State, Arizona, BYU, California, Colorado State, Hawai'i, Oregon, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Stanford, UC Irvine, USC, Texas and Washington. The top-ranked (Golfweek/Sagarin) Waves, which won the event last year, are one of three top-10 teams at the event, along with No. 7 Washington and No. 8 Texas.
Joe Highsmith of Pepperdine The defending NCAA champion Waves return 2021 Western Intercollegiate individual champion
Joe Highsmith, who took down San Diego State’s
Puwit Anupansuebsai and BYU’s
Carson Lundell in a four-hole playoff for his first collegiate victory. The Waves roll into Santa Cruz coming off a victory at the Valspar Collegiate in Florida, it's second win of the year.
Seventh-ranked Washington is coming off back-to-back wins at the Duck Invitational (March 22-22) and The Goodwin (March 24-26) in their two most recent outings. Currently ranked third in the nation among individuals by Golfweek/Sagarin,
RJ Manke earning Pac 12’s Men’s Golfer of the Month for March, the first golfer to earn multiple Pac 12 men’s players of the month since Cal’s
Colin Morikawa in 2019.
Texas, which has climbed up to eighth in the Golfweek/Sagarin poll, also enters the tournament with a head of steam after winning the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational by 26-strokes last weekend. Making his first start since October due to injury, senior
Pierceson Coody earned his second career win in his return to the lineup by carding a three-round total of 17-under-par 199 (67-66-66). His twin brother,
Parker Coody, returned at the end of February. Since Coody rejoined the team, they've finished third (Southern Highlands Collegiate), second (Arizona N.I.T), and their most recent victory.
Stanford, currently ranked 16th by Golfweek/Sagarin, has won the Western Intercollegiate 111 times, with three of its wins coming in the last seven years (2-4, '16, '19). The Cardinal, featuring Western Amateur champion
Micheal Thorbjornsen, is coming off a third-place finish at The Goodwin three weekends ago.
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GOLF Channel TV Times and Live Scoring
Monday, April 11th: 7:00-10:00 P.M. EST
Tuesday, April 12th: 7:00-10:00 P.M. EST
Wednesday, April 13th: 4:00-7:00 P.M. EST
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About Pasatiempo Golf Club
While the teams and players have come and gone over the years, the one constant link to the Western has been the venue, Pastatiempo Golf Club. Nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains overlooking nearby Monterey Bay, renowned architect Alister MacKenzie considered Pastatiempo his favorite layout, ahead of Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Royal Melbourne. A lengthy restoration project which Tom Doak headed up returned many of MacKenzie’s original features to the course, which opened for play in 1929 with a mixed exhibition between Marion Hollins, Bobby Jones, Glenna Collett, and Cyril Tolley. MacKenzie’s home still stands adjacent to the sixth fairway. Upon his passing in 1934, his ashes were scattered throughout the course, making Pasatiempo one of the unique spiritual meccas in all of golf.