FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016
DUKE (WOMEN), ILLINOIS (MEN) WIN 2016 EAST LAKE CUP
Duke Overcomes Obstacles to Salvage Fall Season Schedule with a Win
Illini Defend East Lake Cup Title with Mix of Veteran and Newcomer Success
Stanford (Women), Texas (Men) Win Consolation Matches
ATLANTA, Nov. 2, 2016 – Duke University (women) and the University of Illinois (men) claimed the 2nd annual East Lake Cup presented by Hewlett Packard Enterprise on Wednesday, closing out their 2016 fall season schedule with momentum to carry into next spring. The Blue Devils (No. 3 seed) defeated (No. 4) Washington – reigning national champions – 3-1 in the championship match to salvage their recent stretch of competition which had been plagued by an inability to stay healthy. Illinois (No. 3) defended their 2015 East Lake Cup title by outlasting reigning national champion Oregon (No. 4), 3-2, in a championship match that showcased a mix of upperclassmen and newcomer success for the Illini.
Duke sophomore Virginia Elena Carta helped her team get off to a quick start by making short work of her match against Washington’s Ellen Takada (freshman), winning 7&6. Junior Lisa Maguire also earned a valuable point in her match, winning (1up) despite battling frustrations throughout the fall season with her inability – until this week – to translate the work she’s put in on the driving range into success on the golf course. In what could have potentially been her final event of her college career, Maguire’s sister, Leona – currently top-ranked women’s amateur in the world – halved her match against Washington’s Julianne Alvarez.
Illinois’ Nick Hardy (junior), Edoardo Lipparelli (sophomore) and Bryan Baumgarten (freshman) each earned a point in their championship matches, which included decisive 5&4 victories for both Hardy and Baumgarten. Hardy, along with junior Dylan Meyer, were forced to quickly transition into leadership roles for Head Coach Mike Small this season, offering the two freshmen and one sophomore in their starting lineup with the knowledge and experience from having previously competed on a big stage in competition.
CHAMPIONSHIP:
Women: (No. 3) Duke def. (No. 4) Washington 3-1
Men: (No. 3) Illinois def. (No. 4) Oregon 3-2
CONSOLATION:
Women: (No. 1) Stanford def. (No. 2) UCLA 3-2
Men: (No. 2) Texas def. (No. 1) Vanderbilt 4-1
CONSOLATION MATCHES:
Stanford (No. 1) relied on its veteran leadership on Wednesday, resulting in a narrow 3-2 win over (No. 2) UCLA. Casey Danielson (senior) and Shannon Aubert (junior) both earned a point for the Cardinal, along with freshman Andrea Lee, Monday’s individual stroke play winner. Lee and Aubert never trailed their opponent at any point during their respective matches. On the men’s side, Texas (No. 2) rebounded from Tuesday’s semifinal loss against Illinois by defeating (No. 1) Vanderbilt 4-1, aided by decisive match victories from sophomore Steven Chervony (7&6) and senior Gavin Hall (4&3). Chervony won six of his first seven holes, and was able to capitalize on the early momentum to close out Vanderbilt’s Theo Humphrey on the 12th hole.
Duke (No. 3) vs. Washington (No. 4)
Lisa Maguire (1up) Eun Won Park
Virginia Elena Carta (7&6) Ellen Takada
Leona Maguire Halved Julianne Alvarez
Sandy Choi (4&3) Sarah Rhee
Ana Belac (2up) Wenyung Keh
Illinois (No. 3) vs. Oregon (No. 4)
Nick Hardy (5&4) Edwin Yi
Michael Feagles (5&4) Ryan Gronlund
Edoardo Lipparelli (2&1) Nigel Lett
Dylan Meyer (1up)Wyndham Clark
Bryan Baumgarten (5&4) Sulman Raza
CONSOLATION MATCH RESULTS:
Women’s Division
Stanford (No. 1) vs. UCLA (No.2)
Albane Valenzuela (3&2) Clare Legaspi
Shannon Aubert (1up) Lilia Vu
Casey Danielson (2&1) Mariel Galdiano
Andrea Lee (4&2) Bethany Wu
Sierra Kersten (8&6) Bronte Law
Men’s Division
Vanderbilt (No. 1) vs. Texas (No. 2)
Patrick Martin (1up) Taylor Funk
Will Gordon (1up) Scottie Scheffler
Matthias Schwab (4&3) Gavin Hall
John Augenstein (1up) Doug Ghim
Theo Humphrey (7&6) Steven Chervony
QUOTES
Duke Head Coach Dan Brooks – “I couldn’t be more proud of this team for showing up at the end of our fall season. We’ve had all kinds of little [health] interruptions, but to come out at the end of the fall playing like this, I couldn’t be more proud. This is a great event. Being on a golf course like this, you don’t get away with anything here and it’s televised. Add that all up and it’s really special. You just feel like you’re at a Tour event and playing one of the best courses.”
Brooks on Lisa Maguire – “We were having a hard time getting her game from the driving range to the golf course. This is a person who has worked really hard with an old swing. I’ve never talked to a player on the golf course more than I have the last three days with her. She is well on her way.”
Duke’s Lisa Maguire – “The season’s first two tournaments weren’t as good as we wanted them to be. So to finish with a win is a great way to end the season and I think it was what we needed to give us the confidence to work even harder than we would have in the offseason to get some momentum going into the spring. Right now it is still very much a fight for me on the golf course. Every day I go out and promise myself that I am going to fight as hard as I can. Ultimately that ended up in a win so I was proud of myself in that respect. I was even more delighted to get a win for the team. Leona is my best friend and hopefully she always will be. We’ve been really close growing up and I wouldn’t change this college experience for the world. Going through this has been one of the best things ever and going through this experience. Being further away from home we have relied on each other. So it has been really cool to be a part of.”
Duke’s Leona Maguire – “It’s a great way to finish off the fall for us. It was a big team effort this week, and I think that’s the thing that’s maybe been lacking in the fall is that we’ve had some good individual performances, but to come together this week as a team and everybody stepped up this week, which was big for us. We talked about it all year and to show that bit of leadership and everybody take care of what they can do. We definitely did that this week.”
Leona on her sister Lisa – “She’s been so close for long and it’s great to see that her hard work is paying off. She works harder than anybody I know. To get a point for us this morning was huge, and we all knew she could win, and that’s the reason she was first to get that point on the board. Hopefully that’ll give her some confidence now going into the spring.”
Duke’s Virginia Elena Carta – “I had a tough fall because I got really sick, but I’m super excited about the work we’ve done as a team. This victory is just going to give us a lot of momentum going into the spring. I’m just so proud of everyone on the team. We did a great job this week and I couldn’t be happier right now. I think this was a great tournament and a great challenge for us because it really gives us an idea of how the team is going and what the chemistry on the team is, too. And for how we finished, I would say we are ready for spring and if we get into nationals, we are ready to play.”
Carta on Lisa Maguire – “It’s just amazing that she was able to get a point for us because that point is going to give her so much confidence and as soon as she made the last putt, I was there for her. She ran into me and jumped on me and was the most excited person ever. That’s the kind of thing that everyone wants to see, and I’m super excited and happy for her. She really deserves it because she worked really hard all of last year and this fall. She just put so much work in and now the results are coming out, so that not only gives confidence to her, but also to the team because we know we are going to need Lisa.”
Illinois Head Coach Mike Small – “Today our team conducted themselves like young pros. Good presence and they controlled their environment. A lot of good golf was played. I’m as proud of these guys as I could be. We put them in those positions with the intent that they could succeed, not fail. When kids come to Illinois they should be expected to play and want to play and not be afraid of success. Our goal is to make the match play [at NCAAs] next year. We’ve shown that time and time again and we have to get better. We have a mission next spring and we have to earn it.”
Illinois’ Bryan Baumgartner – “[Coach Small] can be an intimidating guy. But he’s been so supportive. We’ve learned so much and have grown so much as people. To get four victories in five events has been very special.”
Illinois’ Nick Hardy – “I’ve had good examples of leaders set in front of me, so Dylan and I have tried to take those and learn from them. We’ve got a great leader in coach [Small] as well.”
Illinois’ Edoardo Lipparelli – “It’s incredible how college golf, and especially this team, makes an individual sport like golf such a team sport. There are emotions between us when we play, and we can feel each other and it brings the team together.”
Illinois’ Dylan Meyer – “Instead of being so young and immature, I knew I had to step up to the plate starting this summer and leading by example for these freshman. I had to be sure that I was being a leader even before stepping on campus in the fall. [Coach Small] is the main reason for everything I’m doing right now. He’s pushed me to a whole new level. He and I butted heads for a long time because I was stubborn, and he’s stubborn. I hate admitting it, but he’s right. I did the right thing by coming into his way and with the way my play has been and my studies. Everything has gotten better since coming into the Illini culture.”
Washington Head Coach Mary Lou Mulflur – “Having the experience of match play and giving these young players a chance to experience it with TV and all that, we had way more positives this week than not. We can play all the matches we want, but you can’t replicate what it feels like with the atmosphere and they do such a good job of creating the atmosphere that you’re going to have in May. It’s invaluable.”
Mulflur – “We really had a good talk Tuesday morning after being embarrassed on Monday. We knew we were a better team than that. We’ve had a very, very tough fall. But to have them respond the way they did and come back and beat the number one team in the country and give Duke all they could handle. It’s been hard, it’s been difficult, but what does not kill you makes you stronger right? So I feel like all these things are happening now and we’re just going to be able to use them, in the future, and to bank on them a little bit. ‘Okay I remember when we were at East Lake getting our tails handed to us and look what happened’. Yeah, it’s good. It’s nice to end the fall this way.”
Washington’s Sarah Rhee – “I think [this week] reflects a lot on how strong we are as a match play team. I think we’re one of the strongest in the country. It reflects a lot on nationals because of the stroke play. Obviously there was not a cut here, but the match play definitely helped us prepare and get a look at the different teams at play and it will help us when we go into the off-season, what to work on. It was amazing. It was not just being able to play, but the experience of stepping where other legends have stepped. The conditions here were flawless. The rough was pretty tough, but I mean the greens and fairways were beautiful.”
Washington’s Julianne Alvarez – “I think it’s invaluable for our team to have experienced this. We are a super young team and we got our two new freshmen with us. For them to be able to come out here and get a taste, a little preview, of what nationals is going to be like is going to help them so much more in terms of the way they prepare in these next couple of months leading up to the nationals. It’s great to be able to test yourself, and this has only made us stronger. We’re a better team walking out of this event than we were walking in.”
Stanford Head Coach Anne Walker – “I think what happened to us yesterday was the best possible thing because it gave us a chance to come out today and just refocus and rethink through how to be successful in match play. If we weren’t here at the East Lake Cup, the same experience that happened yesterday may have happened in May and it would have hurt a lot more. Yesterday I think we got away from some of the things that have made Stanford golf good at match play. That’s going to be the challenge for us this year is that we have two freshmen and a sophomore on our squad. And although they’ve got a lot of experience, it’s different on this stage. For our freshman, the learning curve is hopefully going to be a little quicker because of this experience. Talent at the national championship is such a small part of it. Experience is a big part of it.”
Stanford’s Shannon Aubert – “One of the biggest things is that it [the format of the event] shows us our flaws and weaknesses and what we need to work on. I know we were all pretty upset about losing against Washington yesterday, so we’re kind of seeing it as a blessing in disguise and seeing what we have to work on in order for that not to happen in May because that would hurt a lot more there, so just kind of seeing it as a learning experience.”
Texas Head Coach John Fields – “The field is so strong here that we were under par yesterday when we got beat. For us, it wasn’t hard to get up for one of the better teams in the country today in Vanderbilt and getting a chance to play at East Lake in that situation. Golf Channel, the sponsors and everyone involved created an incredible environment for these kids to experience a similar type atmosphere that the NCAA Championship provides. The East Lake Cup is fast approaching a definite want to in your schedule, but it’s not something they just hand to you. You’ve got to earn it by being one of the top-four teams at the NCAAs. Earning this opportunity, I had no idea what this event was going to be like. I was overwhelmed with the stature of the event and the field. This is an incredible place. The history and the way East Lake presents itself are just absolutely sensational. It’s been an overwhelming event for us. We’ll take a lot of positives from it.”
Texas’ Doug Ghim – “We don’t appreciate losing. Illinois is a great team but to lose that closely was pretty bitter. So everyone wanted to come back today and fight. Coach [Fields] kind of touched upon how important experiences like this are and how much they will help us next year when we make our run at the national championship. It gives us as a team a good look at what we’re going to have coming down the stretch and some good experiences we can draw upon.”
Texas’ Taylor Funk – “To even play on a golf course like this, it really tests your game, shows you where you’re at, and what you need to work on. Just playing on TV and having the cameras around, there’s nothing like it. As much match-play experience as you can get is always helpful because you don’t play it very often. We’ll play it maybe once or twice during the summer and then during the national championship and now with this event, it really gives us a little advantage.”
Texas’ Gavin Hall – “We don’t usually come to golf tournaments and have these types of events, the cameras. It was a great experience and great exposure for the university. I’m proud of the way we fought. I think Illinois is probably the best team in the country right now, and we just lost to them, but I think it’s a good learning experience for the offseason. We know what we’re going to work on, and I got a good feeling we’re going to have a nice spring and compete at the end of May and beginning of June at NCAAs.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Scott Limbaugh – “I think, first of all, it was an awesome experience for us. It certainly did not end in the way we would have hoped. But in the end for us, I think going forward it’s kind of all about how we handle this and process. We obviously lost a close match yesterday and we were not able to bounce back today and really never had a lot of momentum. To me, we’ve got to have a different mentality in this match play. The way the tournament was run, it really had a good NCAA feel. I really think it could prove valuable for us if, like I said, if our guys handle it the right way.”
Vanderbilt’s Patrick Martin – “It’s a pretty selective field. Just to be a part of that, it’s good to just get here. Obviously the team is pretty disappointed with our performance in match play, but it’s valuable to get these opportunities against some of the best teams in the country that we were most likely to see again later in the year. Obviously we did not come away with a win, but I know even in my matches there were things that I did that on the bigger stage you just cannot do in order to be successful. So I think our team needs to just keep growing. Anytime we get the chance to play the better teams in a format like this, it’s an advantage.”
UCLA Head Coach Carrie Forsyth – “We don’t really have opportunities to do something like this that often. I have a very young team and they are not very experienced in match play. I learned a lot about my players this week, more so than even stroke play events. I learned their strengths and weaknesses when they are really under pressure. There are definitely things we can work on and get better at before the next time we have to play match play.”
UCLA’s Bronte Law – “Because we have such a young team, it’s great for them to come out and kind of have a little insight into what it’s going to be like in the spring. And playing not only this format, but knowing the TV crew out there and kind of having that same sort of pressure of being in that match-place situation when you’re head-to-head. It’s I think really valuable, and I think the team, obviously, we didn’t come here and play exactly like we wanted to, but they understand how important this experience was. And building on the fall and kind of going into the spring, and I think the team will gain a lot of confidence from coming here and kind of showing that we can compete.”
Oregon Head Coach Casey Martin – “It’s nothing but positives. We gave it our best. We didn’t have our best stuff unfortunately. To play a team like Illinois, you’ve got to be really good. And we just didn’t have our best stuff today. We have to hit a lot more fairways. Every time I came up on somebody we were pitching out. I have a great bunch of kids. They’re great to coach. We just need to get a little bit better. And hopefully we will in the spring.”
Oregon’s Wyndham Clark – “It’s just a great exposure for our team and for our guys to get used to playing in front of cameras and playing on TV, and getting used to playing match play. It’s really just a great warm up for what we’re looking forward to, and that’s nationals. I thought it was an awesome experience and I can see why some of those guys struggle out here because it’s hard.”
Oregon’s Ryan Gronlund – “This [event] is something you can’t replicate. You get a world class course, you get the TV cameras, and for everyone other than these four teams that are going to be at the national championship, no one else gets to experience it until it happens, so I think it’s just good experience. We found out where we need to work on. I think all of us need to drive the ball a little bit better, but it was great just to get some pressure tests and see where we hold up and where we might want to improve.”
Presented by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the East Lake Cup Collegiate Match Play Championship featured the two reigning NCAA national champions (Oregon men and Washington women); the two current top-ranked programs in the country (Vanderbilt men and UCLA women); and the 2015 East Lake Cup men’s champions, Illinois. The field also showcased Nos. 1 and 2 in the women’s amateur golf rankings (Leona Maguire – Duke, Bronte Law – UCLA), along with four of the top-8 ranked players in the men’s collegiate individual rankings, including top-ranked Wyndham Clark (Oregon); third-ranked Dylan Meyer (Illinois); sixth-ranked Matthias Schwab (Vanderbilt) and eighth-ranked Doug Ghim (Texas) [based on Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings].
For more information about the East Lake Cup please visit the tournament website here. Stay connected with the championship using the hashtag #EastLakeCup.
-NBC Sports Group-
