Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a member of the Pepperdine University Board of Regents in Southern California, congratulated the college’s golf team after it won its second national championship.
The golf team, The Waves, defeated the University of Oklahoma Sooners for the top national honors in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 2.
“We did it! Congratulations Pepp Golf on winning the NCAA national championship,” Johnson said in a tweet. “I’m so proud of these young men!”
Pepperdine golfer Clay Feagler helped secure the 3-2 win over Oklahoma with a 35-foot shot into the cup on the 18th hole.
Johnson, who was named to the Pepperdine board last year, was elected mayor of Dallas in June of 2019. A Pepperdine website report noted that prior to becoming mayor, Johnson was a former member of the Texas House of Representatives representing the Dallas area from 2010 to 2019, and served as chairman of the city’s Area Legislative Delegation.
The Waves had won a national championship before and were considered the country’s No. 1-seed golf team. But their future looked in doubt after a layoff caused by the COVID-19 pandemic last year and the loss of a standout player, Sahith Theegala, a three-time All American.
Feagler, whose play put the team over the top, said in a report in the Seattle Times that the players refused to get discouraged or lose focus over imagined setbacks.
“Everyone said our year was last year,” Feagler said. “Coach (Michael Beard) said at the beginning of the year, ‘A lot people don’t think you can do it this year.’ That gave us a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and motivation. Look at us now, national champions. It’s kind of crazy.”
The title is Pepperdine’s first in 24 years after winning its first national title in 1997.
