They are two of the marquee names in college golf,
Vanderbilt among the men and Southern California among the women, and they
walked away with East Lake Cup victories Wednesday.
It means nothing in a lot of ways because there will be a
whole spring full of golf before the NCAA Championship is decided at Karsten
Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
But in many ways it means a lot, too. You play against
top-notch competition, you play with television camera people scurrying around,
your friends back on campus are filling up your Twitter timeline because
they’re watching you on TV, and you’re playing match play under pressure and
there’s just no duplicating that in stroke-play tournaments.
If would be surprising if any of the four men’s and four
women’s teams gathered in Atlanta are not in the field when the NCAA
Championship is decided in Stillwater.
Reigning Southeast Conference champion Vanderbilt, No. 11 in
the latest Golfstat rankings, edged
reigning Big Ten champion Illinois, ranked 10th, 3-0-2, denying the
Illini’s bid for a third straight East Lake Cup victory.
The Commodores got two outright wins at the top of their
lineup as Will Gordon, a junior from Davidson, N.C., defeated Michael Feagles,
a sophomore from Scottsdale, Ariz., 2 and 1, and Harrison Ott, a freshman from
Brookfield, Wis., edged Brandon O’Reilly a freshman from Hinsdale, Ill., 1-up.
It was a pretty good week for Gordon, who captured medalist
honors in qualifying with an even-par 72 in tough conditions over the
7,430-yard, par-72 East Lake layout, home to the PGA Tour Championship, and then
won two matches.
Vanderbilt got a third outright victory form John
Augenstein, a sophomore from Owensboro, Ky. who defeated Giovanni Tadiotto, a
sophomore from Belgium, 4 and 3.
Vanderbilt also got halves with Illinois’ top two players as
Patrick Martin, a junior from Birmingham, Ala., finished all square with the
Illini’s Nick Hardy, a senior from Northbrook, Ill. and the No. 14 player in
the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Theo Humphrey, a senior from Greenwich, Conn.
and No. 15 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, finished all square with Dylan Meyer,
a senior from Evansville, Ind. and No. 7 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
A year ago Vanderbilt arrived at East Lake as the No. 1 team
in the country and proceeded to lose two matches. The Commodores remained
confident in their abilities and still reached the final four at Rich Harvest
Farms. Still, winning at East Lake is a nice foundation to build on.
Reigning national champion Oklahoma, ranked 12th,
got a little consolation with a 4-1 victory over No. 38 Oregon, the reigning
Pacific 12 Conference champion, in the third-place match.
The most impressive win for the Sooners came from Blaine
Hale, a junior from Dallas who rolled to a 6 and 5 victory over Norman Xiong, a
sophomore form Canyon Lake, Calif. and No. 6 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Other match winners for Oklahoma were Garett Reband, a
sophomore from Fort Worth, Texas, Riley Casey, a sophomore form Abilene, Texas, and Brad Dalke, a junior from
Norman, Okla.
The 12th-ranked Southern Cal women edged Pac-12 rival
Stanford, ranked fifth, 3-2, in a match that probably turned when the Trojans' Muni He, a
sophomore from San Diego, Calif., surged to a 3 and 2 victory over Andrea Lee,
a sophomore from Hermosa Beach, Calif. and the No. 5 player in the Women’s
World Amateur Golf Ranking.
He was was 2-down to Lee, the top freshman in the country
last year, after eight holes before rattling off wins at nine, 11, 12, 13 and
14 to turn that two-hole disadvantage into a 3-up lead. He had an eagle and
three birdies in the midst of that stretch.
The Trojans also got a big week from Robynn Ree, a junior
from Redondo Beach, Calif. All Ree did was claim medalist honors in qualifying
with a 2-under 70 over an East Lake course that measured 6,206 yards for the
gals and won two matches, including a hard-fought 1-up win over Shannon Aubert,
a senior from Stuart, Fla. who was the qualifying medalist in the U.S. Women’s
Amateur at San Diego Country Club last summer, in Wednesday’s title match.
Southern Cal’s other point came in the anchor match as Divya
Mathena, a sophomore from Moorpark, Calif. and a transfer from Siena. Mathena
defeated Madie Chou, a sophomore from Santa Ana, Calif., 4 and 2.
Stanford got a point from its top gun, Albane Valenzuela, a
sophomore from Switzerland who is No. 3 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf
Ranking. She rolled to a 4 and 2 victory over Alyaa Abdulghany, a freshman from
Newport Beach, Calif.
The Cardinal’s other point came from Ziyi Wang, a sophomore
from China who cruised to a 5 and 4 decision over Allisen Corpuz, a sophomore
from Honolulu, Hawaii.
The third Pac-12 team in the field at East Lake, reigning national
champion Arizona State, ranked seventh, took the third-place match, 2-1-2, over
No. 10 Northwestern out of the Big 10.
Olivia Mehaffey, a sophomore from Ireland and No. 14 in the
Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, capped a strong week with a match win and
the Sun Devils got another outright win
from Sophia Zeeb, a senior from Germany.
Linnea Strom, a junior from Sweden and No. 9 in the Women’s
World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Roberta Liti, a sophomore from Italy, battled
to draws in their matches.
With the three teams at East Lake and UCLA rising to No. 1 in
the latest Golfstat rankings, the
Pac-12 is going to be fascinating to watch unfold in the spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment