Pepperdine holds on to win

PRINCEVILLE — The heavy overnight rains Monday slowed not only the Princeville Makai Invitational, but the consistent No. 2 overall golfer Joshua McCarthy of Pepperdine as well.

The Tuesday start of the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational was delayed by an hour due to the rains, and McCarthy was plagued by three bogies on his final outing.

Despite the rain woes, McCarthy picked up five birdies to finish the final round at two-under 70 for a three-day total of 203. After holding second place for the first two outings, McCarthy slipped to the No. 3 overall spot.

That did not hurt Pepperdine, which held on to claim the tournament title with a three-day 836, two strokes better than No. 2 Missouri who finished at 838, led by Jamie Stewart and Ricky Sanders each posting five-under 67, both individuals getting their best performances on the final day.

John Murphy carded a seven-under 65 to lead Louisville, the tournament’s defending champions, to an 839, a stroke back of Missouri, for third place.

Murphy’s 65 overshadowed the tournament’s leader, Blake Elliott of McNeese State who finished the final round at five-under 67. But Elliott”s nine-under 63 on Monday was good enough for the overall tournament lead, the McNeese State golfer finishing the three days at 18-under 198, ahead of Murphy’s 15-under 201. McCarthy settled in third two strokes back of Murphy at 203.

Hawaii’s Justin Arcano, tied for 10th, carded his best score of three days to finish at six-under 66 to lead the Rainbow Warriors who slipped to No. 18 with a 874. On Monday, all five scoring Rainbow Warriors followed Arcano at even pars. But on the final day, Justin Ngan and Nick Nelson both tied at two-over 74, and Cameron Kaneko and AJ Teraoka both tied at four-over 76.

Kauai native Bryden Salvador carded the best round of the tournament at two-over 74 to finish 109th with a three-day 243.

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.