FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 18th, 2020
TOP-RANKED PEPPERDINE UNVERSITY HEADLINES 15-TEAM FIELD FOR THE 74TH ANNUAL WESTERN INTERCOLLEGIATE PRESENTED BY TOPGOLF, MONDAY-WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13-15
GOLF Channel to Televise Nearly 20 Hours of Tournament Coverage
Top-Ranked Amateurs Headline Field, Including World No. 2 Cole Hammer (Texas) and No. 7 Sahith Theegala (Pepperdine)
SANTA CRUZ, Calif., (Feb. 18, 2020) – The 15-team field for the Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf and hosted by San José State University has been announced, featuring six teams ranked in the top-20 and headlined by top-ranked Pepperdine University.
Taking place Monday-Wednesday, April 13-15 at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif., the Western Intercollegiate is entering its 74th year and will be the final regular season event for the field prior to the start of conference championships. Boasting the world’s second-ranked amateur, Cole Hammer (Texas) and the seventh-ranked amateur, Sahith Theegala (Pepperdine), six of the 15 teams are ranked in the top-20 nationally according to GolfStat: Pepperdine (1), Colorado State (4), Arizona (6), BYU (15), Texas (16) and Washington (17), along with defending champions and reigning NCAA national champions Stanford.
2020 Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf field
University of Arizona
Brigham Young University
University of California
University of California-Irvine
Colorado State University
University of Hawaii
University of Oregon
Pepperdine University
San Diego State University
San José State University
University of Southern California
Stanford University
University of Texas
University of Texas-El Paso
University of Washington
GOLF Channel will deliver nearly 20 hours of tournament coverage for a second consecutive year. GOLF Channel’s live tournament coverage of the Western Intercollegiate will air in primetime Monday and Tuesday, April 13-14, from 7-10 p.m. ET and on Wednesday, April 15 from 4-7 p.m. ET.
Reigning NCAA champion Stanford University swept both the team and individual titles at the 2019 Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf. Stanford finished at 10-under par, winning the team championship by six shots. Isaiah Salinda (Stanford) outlasted Sean Yu (San José State) in the individual competition after making a seven-foot birdie putt on the par-3 18th – the fifth playoff hole and longest playoff in Western Intercollegiate history.
Hosted by San José State University, the 74th Western Intercollegiate is a 54-hole stroke play team and individual championship. The tournament’s rich history features past champions Johnny Miller (BYU), Mark O’Meara (Long Beach State), Peter Jacobsen (Oregon) and San José State alums Ken Venturi, Arron Oberholser and Mark Lye. Recent individual champions include Salinda (2019), Norman Xiong (Oregon, 2018), Justin Suh (USC, 2017), Maverick McNealy (Stanford, 2016), Scottie Scheffler (Texas, 2015) and Patrick Rodgers (Stanford, 2012). In total, players who have competed in the Western Intercollegiate account for 425 PGA TOUR victories and 44 major championships, including past participants Tiger Woods (Stanford), Jon Rahm (Arizona State), Jordan Spieth (Texas), Tom Watson (Stanford), Steve Stricker (Illinois), Roger Maltbie (San José State), Duffy Waldorf, (UCLA) and 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland (Kansas).
The individual medalist at the Western Intercollegiate receives the coveted Blue Jacket, honoring legendary Pasatiempo Golf Club course designer Alister MacKenzie, also the designer of Augusta National Golf Club.
GOLF CHANNEL COVERAGE AND BROADCAST TEAM
GOLF Channel will televise nine hours of live tournament coverage April 13-15, with replays in primetime on the West Coast. Golf Central, the network’s daily news program, will provide wraparound news coverage of the tournament, complemented by digital and social media coverage. Bob Papa and Curt Byrum will call the action from the broadcast booth. Steve Burkowski will report from an on-course tower, with Billy Ray Brown and 1996 Western Intercollegiate champion Arron Oberholser reporting from the course.
GOLF Channel / Western Intercollegiate Coverage (all times ET)
| Monday, April 13 | Round 1, Stroke Play | 7-10 p.m. (Live) / Midnight – 3 a.m. (Replay) |
| Tuesday, April 14 | Round 2, Stroke Play | 7-10 p.m. (Live) / 11 p.m.-2 a.m. (Replay) |
| Wednesday, April 15 | Final Round, Stroke Play | 4-7 p.m. (Live) / 1:30-3:30 a.m. (Replay) |
GOLF Channel is the television home for college golf, televising five college golf championships. Following its announcement in 2013 as the exclusive television provider of the NCAA Golf Championships, GOLF Channel has provided live coverage of the men’s NCAA championships since 2014 and the women’s NCAA championships since 2015, which now are hosted at the same venue in consecutive weeks in May. The 2020 NCAA Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships will take place May 22-June 3 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
In September, GOLF Channel will televise a new college championship, the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational, a 54-hole team and individual stroke play championship, and in October, GOLF Channel will televise the East Lake Cup collegiate match play championship at historic East Lake Golf Club. In addition, GOLF Channel deploys its comprehensive portfolio of news, digital and social media coverage year-round in covering collegiate golf, including specials for regional and national qualifying, on-site and wraparound news from golf’s biggest college events, and is the television home for the Haskins and ANNIKA Awards presented by Stifel.
