Auburn men, Southern California women capture East Lake Cup victories

   The Southeastern Conference is so tough that all 14 of its teams were extended bids to the NCAA regionals last spring.

   And since going to a match-play format for the conference championship to mimic what may be to come at the NCAA Championship, there has been nothing but drama in determining the winner. Last spring it was Auburn claiming a 3-2 victory over in-state rival Alabama with both then advancing all the way to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship, the Crimson Tide actually reaching the Final Match before falling to a powerful Oklahoma State team playing on its home course.

   It also earned Auburn and Alabama an invitation to the East Lake Cup at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, broadcast by The Golf Channel and acting as something of an exclamation point on the short, but never dull fall portion of the college golf season.

   The two ancient rivals forced a rematch of last spring’s SEC title match by taking out higher-ranked teams Tuesday and Wednesday the Tigers, No. 15 in the latest Golfstat rankings (up one from No. 14 since the beginning of the week), made sure the No. 6 Crimson Tide (up from No. 4 in the beginning of the week) would not have their revenge.

   Auburn claimed an impressive 4-1 win over a very talented Alabama team on the 7,430-yard, par-72  East Lake layout. There is no guarantee they will meet again in the SEC Championship, but it sure looks like both teams are quite capable of a deep run in the NCAA Championship.

   From that standpoint, a little match play is always good preparation for what might be to come. Make the final eight in stroke play at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. next spring and you’re in match play.

   And Auburn looks like it is going to be tough to beat if it can get there. Wednesday’s win was the Tigers’ sixth in their last seven match-play forays, their only loss at the hands of Oklahoma State in the NCAA semifinals at Karsten Creek Golf Club.

   Auburn got wire-to-wire victories from Jacob Solomon, a senior from Dublin, Calif., Brandon Mancheno, a sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla. and Wells Padgett, a sophomore from Wichita, Kan. It was Padgett who drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18^th hole to give Auburn the win over Alabama in the SEC final.

   Solomon claimed a 2 and 1 win over Davis Shore, a sophomore from Knoxville, Tenn., Mancheno downed Prescott Butler, a freshman from Old Westbury, N.Y., 3 and 2 and Padgett beat Frankie Capan III, a freshman from North Oaks, Minn., 4 and 3.

   Auburn’s other win came from Trace Crawford, a senior from Bluffton, S.C. who gutted out a 2 and 1 win over Davis Riley, a senior from Hattiesburg, Miss. and the No. 10 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Alabama’s point came from Wilson Furr, a sophomore from Jackson, Miss. who knocked off Jovan Rebula, a junior from South Africa, 2 and 1. Rebula, the nephew of Ernie Els, captured The Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Scotland last summer.

   No. 3 Duke claimed a 3-2 win over No. 1 Oklahoma State in the consolation match. Two losses at East Lake doesn’t change the fact that the reigning national champion Cowboys are going to be tough to beat next spring.

   They got past Auburn and Alabama in their last two matches at Karsten Creek last spring. That might be tough to do next spring.

   Justin Silverstein suddenly found himself running the Southern California women’s golf team this summer when the legendary Andrea Gaston was wooed away from Los Angeles to College Station, Texas to do at Texas A&M what she did at USC: Build a powerhouse program.

   Well, nobody can accuse Gaston of leaving the cupboard bare. Silverstein’s Kiddie Corps of four sophomores and a freshman made it three straight tournament wins with a 3-2 victory over another powerful Pac-12 program in Stanford in the East Lake Cup final Wednesday over an East Lake layout that measured 6,127 yards for the ladies.

   It was the second straight East Lake Cup victory for Southern Cal, which arrived in Atlanta as the No. 1 team in the latest Golfstat rankings. It was also the second straight year the Trojans defeated their Pac-12 rival in the final.

   It came down to the anchor match between Southern Cal’s Gabriela Ruffels, a sophomore from Australia, and Stanford’s Andrea Lee, a junior from Hermosa Beach, Calif. who is No. 7 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Lee has tons of match-play experience. She’s represented the United States on two Curtis Cup teams, one in hostile territory in 2016 and one this summer in the friendly confines of Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. Her Stanford teams have reached the semifinals of the last two NCAA Championships where they suffered gut-wrenching setbacks to eventual champions Arizona State and Arizona.

   Ruffels was in deep, but she responded by winning the 16^th and 17^th holes to claim a 2 and 1 win and clinch the match for the Trojans. When it came to crunch time, it was the veteran Lee who made the unforced errors.

   But Stanford is still Stanford. The Cardinal’s ranking fell from No. 11 to No. 13 since they arrived in Atlanta, but they still have Albane Valenzuela, a junior from Switzerland who is No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, and Mika Liu, a sophomore from Beverly Hills, Calif.

   Valenzuela rolled to a 6 and 4 victory over Southern Cal’s Jennifer Chang, a sophomore from Cary, N.C. who can really play. And Liu cruised to a 4 and 3 decision over Amelia Garvey, a sophomore from New Zealand.

   Valenzuela was the individual medalist in qualifying Monday and Stanford earned the top seed in match play. The Cardinal aren’t going anywhere.

   But the fourth member of Southern Cal’s freshman Fab Four from last spring along with Ruffels, Chang and Garvey, Alyaa Abdulghany, a sophomore from Newport Beach, Calif., took out Aline Krauter, a freshman from Germany, 2 and 1. And Malia Nam, a freshman from Kailua, Hawaii, earned a 3 and 1 victory over Ziyi Wang, a senior from China.

   And Ruffels finished the job.

   A depleted Alabama, ranked seventh, edged reigning national champion Arizona, ranked 14^th, 3-2 in the consolation match, which means both the men’s and women’s national champions left Atlanta with 0-2 records.

   But there is a lot of golf to be played between the last day of October and May. Three Pac-12 teams stand between No. 1 Southern Cal and No. 13 Stanford, No. 6 UCLA, the two-time reigning Pac-12 champion, No. 10 Arizona State, the 2017 NCAA champion and No. 11 Washington, the 2016 NCAA champion. And Arizona is right behind Stanford at No. 14.

   Would anyone be the least bit surprised if three of the final four women’s teams in the NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club are from the Pac-12 for the third straight year? You shouldn’t be.

Team Muller takes GAP's Father & Son (Older) title; an ace gives Team Chernosky Super-Senior victory

   It took me a while to get around to a post on last week’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Father & Son (Older) Championship, which was played Oct. 23 at North Hills Country Club in Glenside.

   But let’s face it, fathers and sons are a big part of the game. The Father’s Day finish of the U.S. Open has become such a big part of the story every year because there is always an emotional son thanking his dad for getting him started in the game.

   Last week’s Father & Son (Older) came down to a playoff between two teams that have some experience in these things.

   James Muller and son Maximillian Muller of Manufacturers Golf & Country Club won this title three years ago, but also captured the ages 15-to-17 division 16 years ago in 2002. Craig Kliewer of Honeybrook Golf Club and Alan Kliewer of Lebanon Country Club were back-to-back winners of the Father & Son (Middle) titles in 2013 and 2014.

   Both teams carded a solid 1-under 70 over the 6,216-yard, par-71 North Hills layout. The teams were playing the par-4 first hole for the third time in the select-drive, alternate-shot format when both missed the green with their approach. But 65-year-old James Muller of Huntingdon Valley chipped it to two feet and 33-year-old Maximillian Muller of Fort Washington got the short par putt to fall to give Team Muller the title.

   Two holes earlier, Maximillian Muller holed a clutch six-footer for par that kept the playoff going.

It was four shots back to the next-best finisher as the Llanerch Country Club pair of Dan Brown and Michael Brown finished alone in third at 3-over 74.

   The Loch Nairn Golf Club duo of Brad Comforth and Doug Comforth and the host club’s Drew Garis and Robert Garis shared fourth place, each posting a 4-over 75.

   Kenneth Phillips, one of GAP’s top senior players from Lancaster Country Club, and Grant Phillips of Llanerch finished alone in sixth at 77.

   My Archbishop Carroll Class of 1973 classmate Mike Owsik, the proprietor of the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, and Mike Owsik Jr., playing out of Cobbs Creek Golf Club, shared seventh place with the team of Greg Daniels of Applebrook Golf Club and Jesse Daniels of Aronimink Golf Club as each team signed for a 78.

   Three pairs – Royce Yeager of Cedarbrook Country Club and Gary Yeager of Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Cricket Club’s Sean Semenetz and Gregg Semenetz and Frank Tuscano and Steven Tuscano of North Hills – finished in a tie for ninth at 79.

   Had to sneak in my former Delaware County Daily Times sports department colleague Will Holt and his dad Bill Holt III, playing out of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club, who carded an 80 to end up in a trio of teams tied for 12^th.

   Team Holt was joined at 80 by Steve Cooper of Laurel Creek Country Club and Geoffrey Cooper of North Hills and the Tavistock Country Club tandem of Daniel Rexon and G. Frederick Rexon Jr.

   There wasn’t a playoff in the Super-Senior Division and that’s mostly because the tee shot of 44-year-old Daniel Chernosky of Cranford, N.J. on the 191-yard, par-3 14^th hole at North Hills found the bottom of the cup for his second career hole-in-one.

   The Towanda Country Club duo of Harvey Chernosky and his 72-year-old dad, Daniel Chernosky of Towanda, would ultimately win the division by a shot so Harvey Chernosky’s ace proved to be pretty big.

   “I had a feeling it was down there because I could see the ball mark in the front of the green where I thought I hit it,” Harvey Chernosky told the GAP website. “I was pretty sure it was the right club. I thought there was no way it rolled all the way off the green, but you hate to jinx it. Once they told me it was in, that was pretty cool.”

   While not quite as dramatic as an ace, Daniel Chernosky contributed a big shot as well when he chipped in for birdie from just off the green on the eighth hole. It all added up to a 4-over 75 that gave Team Chernosky a one-shot edge over two other pairs.

   Those two pairs actually came from one family as Team Klagholz of Aronimink accounted for a pair of 5-over 76s that meant Martin Klagholz was tied with himself for second. It was Martin Klagholz and Jeff Klagholz and Martin Klagholz and Tim Klagholz landing on the same number. I guess they could have their own little playoff back at Aronimink to break the tie.

   Robert Billings of Rolling Green Golf Club and Rob Billings of the Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association finished fourth with a 77 and the Chester Valley Golf Club duo of Mike Civitello Jr. and Mike Civitello took fifth with an 80.

It's Alabama-Auburn in men's final and USC-Stanford in women's final in East Lake Cup

   Alabama and Auburn didn’t seem to care that their opponents in the East Lake Cup semifinals Tuesday at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta were more highly-rated than they were.

   Maybe the Southeastern Conference’s decision to go to a match-play format, mimicking the NCAA Championship format, to determine its champion has made its teams more adept at match play.

   Or maybe, being Alabama and Auburn, they really wanted to go at it again, head-to-head in match play, like they did last spring in the SEC final at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Ga. when Tigers freshman Wills Padgett dropped a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18^th hole to defeat Crimson Tide senior Jonathan Hardee and give Auburn a 3-2 victory and the conference title.

   Both teams went on deep runs in the postseason, reaching the semifinals of the NCAA Championship, which is why they were invited to the East Lake Cup in the first place.

   Tuesday, No. 14 Alabama avenged its 5-0 loss to Oklahoma State in the Final Match at the Cowboys’ home course at Karsten Creek Golf Club with a 3-2 victory over the No. 1 team in the country in the latest Golfstat rankings.

   But you know there is something even bigger gnawing at the psyche in Roll Tide Country, you know kind of like when that Auburn guy returned the missed field goal for a touchdown to beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl. This is only golf, of course, but it is Alabama-Auburn and the video of the celebration that ensued when Padgett’s putt dropped last spring wasn’t real hard to find on the Internet.

   Anyway, the No. 4 Tigers did their part by knocking off No. 3 Duke, which had earned the top seed in the match-play qualifying round Monday, 4-1, on the challenging 7,430-yard, par-72 East Lake layout.

   That probably did have a little something to do with the Tigers’ new-found enthusiasm for match play. Oh yeah, and one of the Auburn guys, Jovan Rebula, a junior from South Africa and the nephew of another pretty good golfer from South Africa, that Ernie Els guy, yeah, he won The Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Scotland last summer. You have to be pretty good at match play to win that thing.

   The Dookies did get a point from Adrien Pendaries, a sophomore from France who dismantled Auburn’s Trace Crowe, a senior from Bluffton, S.C., 7 and 6.

   But after that it was all Auburn – the Tigers, the War Eagles, the Plainsmen, Keith Jackson used to spit out all of its nicknames in one breath.

   The big wins came from the sophomores, Padgett of Wichita, Kan. and Brandon Mancheno of Jacksonville, Fla. who was unconscious during Auburn’s run to the NCAA semifinals. Padgett edged Alex Smalley, a senior from Wake Forest, N.C., 1-up, and Mancheno beat Chandler Eaton, a junior from Alpharetta, Ga., 1-up.

   Rebula claimed a 4 and 3 win over Evan Katz, a sophomore from Washington, D.C. and Jacob Solomon, a senior from Dublin, Calif., cruised to 6 and 5 decision over Shwish Dwivedi, a senior from Redwood City, Calif.

   Alabama couldn’t handle Oklahoma State’s two top guns, reigning U.S. Amateur champion Viktor Hovland, a junior from Norway and the No. 4 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Matthew Wolff, a sophomore from Agoura Hills, Calif. and No. 5 in the WAGR.

   Hovland, the individual medalist in Monday’s qualifying round, claimed a 2 and 1 win over Frankie Capan III, a freshman from North Oaks, Minn., and Wolff earned a 4 and 3 victory over Davis Shore, a sophomore from Knoxville, Tenn.

   After that, though, it was Roll Tide.

   Prescott Butler, a freshman from Old Westbury, N.Y., downed Hayden Wood, a senior from Edmond, Okla., 3 and 2, William Furr, a sophomore from Jackson, Miss., pulled out a 2-up decision over Austin Eckroat, a sophomore from Edmond, Okla., and Davis Riley, a senior from Hattiesburg, Miss. and the No. 10 player in the WAGR, claimed a 4 and 3 win over Zach Bauchou, a senior from Forest, Va.

   So, Alabama-Auburn for the East Lake Cup on Halloween. Should be scary good.

   On the women’s side, it will be another conference rivalry and a rematch of last year’s East Lake Cup final when Southern California and Stanford, out of the Pac-12, get it on.

   The Trojans, No. 1 in the latest Golfstat rankings, beat Stanford, 3-2, in the East Lake Cup final. But hardly anybody was left from that Southern Cal team when golf resumed following the midseason break.

   No problem. A Fab Four of freshmen didn’t skip a beat as the Trojans made it all the way to the semifinals before falling to a powerful Alabama team. They arrived at East Lake with four sophomores and a freshman in the lineup and that No. 1 ranking.

   They are two consistently excellent programs, although neither has a national championship to show for it since the Cardinal won it all in 2015, the first year of match play in NCAA Championship.

   Southern Cal knocked off reigning national champion Arizona, ranked 15^th and the third Pac-12 team in  last spring’s NCAA semifinals, 4-1, over an East Lake layout that measured 6,127 yards for the ladies.

   A key win for the Trojans came from Jennifer Chang, a sophomore from Cary, N.C. who edged Bianca Pagdanganan, a senior from the Philippines who was the hero of the Wildcats’ run to the national championship last spring, 1-up.

   There were so many talented freshmen all over the country last season and Jennifer Chang was right up there with the best of them.

   Alyaa Abdulghany, a sophomore from Newport Beach, Calif., edged Arizona’s Ya-Chun Chang, a freshman from Taiwan, 2-up.

   Southern Cal’s Down Under Duo of Amelia Garvey, a sophomore from New Zealand, and Gabriela Ruffels, a sophomore from Australia, picked up the last two points for the Trojans. Garvey claimed a 4 and 2 decision over Sandra Nordaas, a junior from Norway, while Ruffels earned a 3 and 2 win over Haley Moore, a senior from Escondido, Calif. and one of the more underrated players in women’s college golf.

   Arizona’s lone point came from Yu-Sang Hou, a sophomore from Taiwan who beat Malia Nam, a freshman from Kailua, Hawaii, 3 and 2.

   No. 11 Stanford, which claimed the top seed in qualifying for match play Monday, had little problem in handing a depleted No. 7 Alabama team a 4-1 setback.

   Still, there was an interesting matchup between Stanford’s Mika Liu, a sophomore from Beverly Hills, Calif., and Alabama’s Jiwon Jeon, a junior from South Korea who is No. 8 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and the runnerup to Alabama teammate Kristen Gillman in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Golf Club of Tennessee last summer.

   Liu was a member of a young U.S. Curtis Cup team in 2016 that lost to Great Britain & Ireland at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in suburban Dublin when she still had a year of high school left. She can play and she showed a little of that talent in a 1-up win over Jeon, a transfer from Daytona State, a junior college power.

   The Crimson Tide might very well be losing two of the best amateur players in the world in Gillman, No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR, and Lauren Stephenson, No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR, as they are in the midst of the LPGA Q-Series, eight rounds of golf at the Pinehurst Resort that could result in them earning LPGA Tour cards for 2019.

   Stanford’s studs, Albane Valenzuela, a junior from Switzerland and No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, and Andrea Lee, a junior from Hermosa Beach, Calif. and No. 7 in the Women’s WAGR, are still very much in the Cardinal lineup.

   Lee was a teammate of Liu’s in 2016 at Dun Laoghaire and was a U.S. Curtis Cup team member again this year, along with Gillman and Stephenson, when the Stars & Stripes laid a 17-3 beatdown on GB&I at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. Lee rolled to a 7 and 5 decision over Mary Mac Trammell, a freshman from Mountain Brook, Ala.

   Valenzuela, the runnerup in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur, claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Angelica Moresco, a sophomore from Italy and the only player in the Crimson Tide lineup this week who played in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match last spring.

   Ziyi Wang, a junior from China, earned the Cardinal’s other point with an 8 and 6 victory over Carolina Caminoli, a freshman from Italy.

   Alabama’s lone point came from Kenzie Wright, a junior from Frisco, Texas who transferred to Tuscaloosa from SMU. Wright edged Aline Krauter, a freshman from Germany, in 19 holes.