Vanderbilt's Gordon, Southern Cal's Ree individual medalists iin East Lake Cup

   Some of the top amateur golfers in the world and in college golf got a little deserved air time on The Golf Channel as the East Lake Cup teed off Monday.

   The East Lake Cup, played at the same East Lake Golf Club course that has become the traditional home of the PGA Tour Championship, brings together the semifinalists from the previous spring’s men’s and women’s NCAA Championship.

   It is sort of a mini-NCAA Championship with one day of medal play that determines individual and team champions and, more importantly, establishes the matchups for match play. Since both the men’s and women’s NCAA Championship went to match play – the men took the dive first and the women followed a few years later – the top teams are always on the lookout for any opportunity to get some match-play experience.

   All these kids grew up playing stroke play, but match play is a whole different ball game. The new emphasis on match play in college golf was evident in last summer’s U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur when the finalists were all college players.

   When the dust settled Monday in chilly Atlanta there would be rematches of last spring’s semifinals at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. in both the men’s and women’s brackets. It didn’t have to work out that way, it just did.

   On the men’s side, reigning Southeast Conference champion Vanderbilt, No. 11 in the latest Golfstat rankings, swept both the individual and team medalist honors.

   Will Gordon, a junior from Davidson, N.C., matched par with a 72 on an East Lake layout that measured 7,630 yards for the guys to edge four players by a shot for the individual title.

   He led the Commodores to a 4-over 292 total and a three-shot margin over reigning national champion and 12^th-ranked Oklahoma for team medalist honors. No. 10 Illinois, the reigning Big Ten champion and two-time defending East Lake Cup winner, was third at 301 followed by No. 38 Oregon, the reigning Pacific 12 champion, at 313.

   Two of Gordon’s Vanderbilt teammates, Theo Humphrey, a senior from Greenwich, Conn. and the No. 15 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and John Augenstein, a sophomore from Owensboro, Ky. and the hero of the Commodores’ heart-stopping run to the SEC title last spring, were two members of the foursome that finished a shot behind Gordon at 1-over 73.

   Illinois’ Nick Hardy, a senior from Northbrook, Ill. and No. 12 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Oklahoma’s Grant Hirschman, a senior from Collierville, Tenn., rounded out the quartet tied for second at 73.

   Rounding out the medal-winning team effort for Vanderbilt were Harrison Ott, a freshman from Brookfield, Wis. who finished tied for sixth with a 2-over 74, and Patrick Martin, a junior from Birmingham, Ala. who finished tied for 13^th with a 4-over 76 that the Commodores were able to toss.

Vanderbilt will take on Oregon Tuesday in a rematch of last spring’s semifinal at Rich Harvest Farms won by the Ducks, who reached the NCAA’s final match for the second straight spring. Oklahoma will battle Illinois in the other semifinal. The Sooners knocked off the Illini in the semifinals at Rich Harvest Farms on their way to the national championship.

   If you’re not convinced that getting some match-play experience is helpful come postseason time, three of the four semifinalists from last spring gathered at East Lake this week were also here last year. Case losed.

   Stanford, No. 5 in the latest Golfstat rankings, is the only returning women’s team battling for the East Lake Cup. The Cardinal grabbed team medalist honors with a 3-over 291 total over an East Lake layout that measured 6,206 for the gals.

   No. 12 Southern California, led by individual medalist Robynn Ree, a junior from Redondo Beach, Calif., finished six shots behind Stanford in second at 9-over 297, No. 10 Northwestern was another shot behind the Trojans in third at 10-over 198 and No. 7 Arizona State, the reigning national champion, finished fourth at 13-over 301. Stanford, Southern Cal and Arizona State are all Pac-12 teams while Northwestern comes out of the Big Ten.

   Ree fired a 2-under 70 to capture individual medalist honors by a shot over a talented foursome.

Two players from opposing sides in the 2016 Curtis Cup Match at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club outside of Dublin, Stanford’s Andrea Lee, a sophomore from Hermosa Beach, Calif. and No. 5 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Arizona State’s Olivia Mehaffey, a sophomore from Ireland and No. 14 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, were two of the four players who finished a shot behind Ree in a tie for second at 1-under 71.

   Mehaffey’s Great Britain & Ireland side won that Curtis Cup and you can bet U.S. captain Virginia Derby Grimes will be keeping half an eye on the coverage from East Lake – for all I know she might be there – as the USGA decides on whom will represent the U.S. in the 2018 Curtis Cup, which will be played in June at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y.

   Lee’s teammate, Shannon Aubert, a senior from Stuart, Fla. via France and the qualifying medalist in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club, and Northwestern’s Janet Mao, a junior from Johns Creek, Ga., were also in the foursome tied for second at 1-under 71.

   Southern Cal’s Muni He, a sophomore from San Diego, Calif., finished alone in sixth with a 2-over 73.

   Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela, a sophomore from Switzerland and No. 3 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Arizona State’s Linnea Strom, a junior from Sweden and No. 9 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, finished tied for seventh at 2-over 74.

   Valenzuela reached the final of the U.S Women’s Amateur last summer at San Diego Country Club, falling to Texas senior Sophia Schubert. Valenzuela, who was also the runnerup in the stroke-play European Ladies’ Amateur in her native Switzerland, defeated Southern Cal’s Ree in the quarterfinals on her way to the U.S. Women’s Amateur final.

   Rounding out the team medal-winning effort for the Cardinal were Ziyi Wang, a sophomore from China who finished tied for ninth with a 3-over 75, and Madie Chou, a sophomore from Santa Ana, Calif. who finished 20^th with an 85 that Stanford was able to toss.

   So it will be Stanford vs. Arizona State in Tuesday’s semifinals, a rematch of the Cardinal’s excruciating semifinal loss to the Sun Devils at Rich Harvest Farms in a match that was suspended by darkness with Stanford holding a slight advantage only to come up short. A victory would also have given the Cardinal a third straight trip to the NCAA Championship’s final match.

   The other semifinal will pit Northwestern and Southern Cal in a rematch of last spring’s other semifinal that the Wildcats won to reach the final.