The Florida men and the Oregon women avenged losses in last spring’s NCAA Championship semifinals to capture their respective titles in the East Lake Cup last week at a soggy and chilly East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga.
The East Lake Cup invites the four semifinalists from the previous spring’s NCAA Championship to compete in a similar, albeit scaled down a bit, version of the NCAA Tournament’s end game.
Oklahoma State, the men’s national champion last spring at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. declined its invitation and was replaced in the field by Arizona State, which missed a spot in the match-play bracket at La Costa last spring by a shot. The Cowboys and the Sun Devils are both Big 12 representatives.
The powerful Stanford women, the runnerup to Northwestern in a fairly epic upset in the Final Match at La Costa last spring, also declined their East Lake invitation and were replaced by their old Pac-12 rival Southern California, which lost to Florida State in the quarterfinals at La Costa.
If the Cowboys and the Cardinal checked out any of The Golf Channel’s broadcasts of the East Lake Cup, particularly Monday’s qualifying for match play and Wednesday’s finals, they might have been happy they stayed home as there were some simply miserable conditions.
Having said that, it’s never a bad idea for a college golf team to get at least a little acclimated to playing in the kind of adverse conditions it will inevitably face at some point in the spring. And, considering the national championship is determined at match play, it’s never a bad idea to get some reps in golf’s most inscrutable format, particularly against some stiff competition.
Virginia, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champion, arrived at East Lake at No. 1 in the early Scoreboard powered by clippd rankings. The Cavaliers made a pretty spectacular run to the NCAA Championship’s Final Match last spring before falling to Oklahoma State in a tremendous battle for the title.
Virginia had knocked off Southeastern Conference champion Florida, 4-1, in the semifinals to reach the Final Match at La Costa.
After Virginia claimed a 3.5-1.5 victory over Arizona State and Florida had edged SEC rival Mississippi, 3-2, in Tuesday’s semifinals at East Lake, it was the Cavaliers and the Gators going at it in the rain and the chill of Wednesday for the East Lake Cup title.
It would be Parker Bell, a senior from Tallahassee, Fla. and No. 95 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) who would deliver the winning point as Florida, No. 9 in the Scoreboard rankings, edged the top-ranked Cavaliers, 3-2, to capture the East Lake Cup title.
Bell held on for a dramatic 1-up victory over Virginia’s Ben James, a senior from Milford, Conn. who has twice been a member of winning U.S. Walker Cup teams and is No. 2 in the WAGR.
Bell had taken a 4-up lead with five holes to play when James ripped off wins at the 14th, 15th and 16th holes to creep within 1-down. It looked like James was going to draw even with a dramatic chip-in for birdie at the 17th hole, but Bell drained a clutch birdie putt to maintain his 1-up edge heading to the final hole.
At the finishing hole, Bell again dropped a clutch birdie putt to close out James and give the Gators their second straight tournament title. Florida was coming off a victory in the Williams Cup, hosted by North Carolina at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, N.C.
Florida got off to a good start in the East Lake Cup final when Luke Poulter, a junior from Orlando, Fla. and No. 23 in the WAGR, cruised to a 4 and 3 victory over Michael Lee, who is having an outstanding start to his college career.
Don’t let that Orlando residence fool you. Poulter is a Brit and the son of Ian Poulter, who has been a thorn in the side of the United States as a standout for Europe in many a Ryder Cup. Luke Poulter has apparently inherited his dad’s match-play chops.
Michael Lee is a Fairfax, Va. resident and the younger brother of Virginia standout Bryan Lee, a senior.
Michael Lee was the medalist in Monday’s qualifying round limited to nine holes by inclement weather with a 3-under-par 33 on the outgoing nine of an East Lake layout that was playing to 7,195 yards and par of 72 for the guys. The women played East Lake’s incoming nine in their qualifying round for match play.
Florida’s other point came from Zack Swanwick, a sophomore from New Zealand who was so clutch as a freshman during the Gators’ postseason run last spring. Swanwick, No. 32 in the WAGR, earned a 2 and 1 decision over Paul Chang, Virginia’s gritty graduate student from China who is No. 40 in the WAGR.
Bryan Lee, a senior from Fairfax, Va. and No. 27 in the WAGR, earned a point for Virginia with a 3 and 1 victory over Jack Turner, a junior from Orlando, Fla. and No. 14 in the WAGR.
The Cavaliers’ other point came from Josh Duangmanee, a junior from Fairfax, Va. and No. 48 in the WAGR as he claimed a 2-up victory over Matthew Kress, a senior from Saratoga, Calif. and No. 73 in the WAGR.
Poulter, Kress, Turner and Swanwick were all in the lineup for Florida in its semifinal loss to the Cavaliers at La Costa last spring. James, Chang, Duangmanee and Bryan Lee were in the lineup for Virginia in the victory that sent that the Cavaliers’ to the Final Match at La Costa.
It was Turner who accounted for the decisive point in the East Lake Cup semifinals Tuesday as he edged Mississippi’s reigning NCAA individual champion Michael La Sasso, a senior from Raleigh and No. 10 in the WAGR, 2-up, to lift the Gators to a 3-2 victory over Ole Miss, No. 12 in the Scoreboard rankings.
Didn’t get a chance to catch any of the broadcast of the semifinals and it sounds like it might not have been quite as miserable as the other two days. Cold-weather gear was still very much in evidence in the still photos I saw.
Poulter put the first point on the board for Florida with a 6 and 4 victory over Tom Frazier, a senior from Birmingham, Ala. and No. 60 in the WAGR.
Bell delivered the other point for the Gators as he cruised to a 5 and 3 decision over Ole Miss’ Daniel Tolf, a freshman from Sweden.
Ole Miss got match wins from Cohen Troilio, a junior from West Point, Miss. and No. 50 in the WAGR who knocked off Kress, 3 and 2, and Cameron Tankersley, a senior from Dickson, Tenn. and No. 16 in the WAGR who rolled to a 5 and 4 decision over Swanwick.
Michael Lee sparkled Virginia in its 3.5-1.5 victory over Arizona State in the other semifinal with a decisive 7 and 6 victory over Michael Mjaaseth, a senior from Norway and No. 19 in the WAGR.
The Cavaliers also got full points from Chang, who claimed a 4 and 2 verdict over Boston Bracken, a freshman from St. George, Utah, and James, who captured a 4 and 3 decision over Bowen Mauss, a freshman from Draper, Utah.
Bryan Lee earned a half-point by battling Connor Williams, a junior from Escondido, Calif. to a draw and Peer Wernicke, a sophomore from Germany, picked up a full point for the Sun Devils with a 1-up victory over Duangmanee.
Fischer, Trolio and La Sasso each picked up a match win and earned full points for Ole Miss as the Rebels topped Arizona State, 3.5-1.5, in the third-place match.
Michael Lee’s medalist performance on a dreary Monday of qualifying for match play gave Virginia the top seed in the team standings with a 6-under 138 total.
Florida finished three shots behind the Cavaliers in second place with a 3-under 141 total behind Bell, who finished in a tie for second place in the individual standings with Virginia’s James, each landing on 2-under 34.
Ole Miss finished in third place with a 1-under 143 total and Arizona State took fourth with a 1-over 145 total.
Backing up Michael Lee and James for Virginia were Chang, who finished among a group tied for fourth place with a 1-under 35, and Bryan Lee, who matched par with a 36 to finish in the group tied for ninth place.
On the women’s side, Oregon’s Kiara Romero, a junior from San Jose, Calif. and the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), sealed the deal for the Ducks, No. 3 in the Scoreboard rankings, with a 3 and 2 victory over Northwestern sophomore Megan Meng, a product of Hopewell Valley Central in Pennington, N.J., that gave them a 4-1 victory and the East Lake Cup title.
Romero had fallen, 2-up, to Northwestern’s Dianna Lee, a senior from San Deigo, Calif. and No. 94 in the Women’s WAGR, in the deciding match in the Wildcats’ semifinal victory over Big Ten champion Oregon in the NCAA Championship at La Costa last spring.
And Dianna Lee, who would come back to earn the final point in Northwestern’s stunning upset of Stanford in the Final Match at La Costa last spring, continued to play a leading role for the Wildcats at East Lake.
Dianna Lee, No. 94 in the Women’s WAGR, was the medalist in qualifying for match play with a 2-under 34 on East Lake’s back nine in miserable conditions. The East Lake layout measured 6,185 yards for the women.
Dianna Lee picked up the lone full point for Northwestern, No. 21 in the Scoreboard rankings, in the East Lake Cup title match with a 5 and 4 victory over Shyla Singh, a freshman from Australia.
But Romero’s Oregon teammates had the answers in the other matches.
Sophie Han, a freshman from Hong Kong and No. 100 in the Women’s WAGR, cruised to a 5 and 4 victory over Ashley Yun, a junior from West Covina, Calif. and No. 87 in the Women’s WAGR, in the leadoff match.
Oregon’s Tong An, a sophomore from China, edged Hsin Tai Lin, a sophomore from Taiwan, 1-up, and Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, a sophomore from Thailand and No. 18 in the Women’s WAGR, pulled out a 1-up victory over Arianna Lau, a freshman from Hong Kong and No. 35 in the Women’s WAGR.
Romero, An and Vinijchaitham were in the lineup for Oregon in the Ducks’ loss to their Big Ten rival in the national semifinals last spring. Oregon appears poised to make a another run at a national championship in the spring.
Dianna Lee, Yun and Tai Lin were in the lineup for Northwestern in its victory over Stanford in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match last spring.
Romero had rolled to a 6 and 5 decision over Florida State’s Alexandra Gazzoli, a sophomore from Palm Coast, Fla., to spark Oregon to a 3-2 victory in Tuesday’s East Lake Cup semifinals over the Seminoles, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference and No. 28 in the Scoreboard rankings.
Oregon’s other two points against Florida State came from Vanijchaitham, who claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Elin Pudas Remler, a sophomore from Sweden, and Han, who earned a 3 and 2 win over Haruhi Nakatani, a freshman from Japan.
Sophia Fullbrook, a sophomore from England, got Florida State on the board with a 4 and 3 victory over Singh. The other point from the Seminoles was recorded by Freya Russell, a sophomore from Scotland who earned a 3 and 2 decision over An.
Northwestern ran into a familiar face in its 4-1 semifinal victory over another of its new West Coast Big Ten rivals in Southern California, which arrived at East Lake at No. 2 behind top-ranked Stanford in the Scoreboard rankings.
Elise Lee, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif. and No. 47 in the Women’s WAGR, was in the lineup for the Trojans. Elise Lee had been in the lineup for Northwestern in its victory over Stanford in the Final Match at La Costa last spring, but decided to return home to SoCal to play for Southern Cal.
Northwestern’s Lau edged Elise Lee on the 19th hole for the clinching point for the Wildcats. All of the matches in Northwestern’s deceptively tight victory over the Trojans reached at least the 17th hole.
Northwestern’s other points came from Yun, who pulled out a 1-up victory over Sarah Hammett, a freshman from Australia, Meng, who earned a 2 and 1 win over Kylie Chong, a sophomore from Torrance, Calif. and Dianna Lee, who again played the role of giant killer with a 2 and 1 verdict over senior Catherine Park, another Irvine, Calif. resident who is No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR.
Southern Cal’s lone point was recorded by Jasmine Koo, a talented sophomore from Cerritos, Calif. who is No. 9 in the Women’s WAGR. Koo needed 20 holes to finally pull out a victory over Tai Lin.
Elise Lee, Hammett, Park and Koo all had match wins for Southern Cal as the Trojans claimed a 4-1 victory over Florida State in Wednesday’s third-place match.
Oregon’s Romero was the runnerup to Dianna Lee in the qualifying for match play that was limited to nine holes, the incoming nine at East Lake, with a 1-under 35 that led the Ducks to the top seed with an even-par 144 total.
Southern Cal, led by Hammett, the freshman who matched par with a 36 to share third place with Oregon’s Vinjichaitham and An in the individual standings, finished three shots behind Oregon in second place in the team chase with a 3-over 147 total.
Northwestern, behind Dianna Lee’s medal-winning performance, was seven shots behind the Trojans in third place with a 10-over 154 total. Florida State finished in fourth place, a shot behind Northwestern with an 11-over 155 total.
Singh and Han rounded out the Oregon lineup as they finished among the group tied for sixth place at 1-over 37.
No comments:
Post a Comment