Duke men, Stanford women take top seeds at East Lake Cup

ATLANTA (Oct. 29, 2018) – The brackets are set and now the stroke play begins. The quarterfinalists from last year’s NCAA Championship – on both the men’s and women’s side – get another chance to go head-to-head to end the first half of the new season. After a round of stroke-play qualifying at East Lake Golf Club, the eight teams in the field – four men’s and four women’s – have been slotted into their match-play spot.

On the men’s side, Duke got the best of Oklahoma State on Monday after finishing second to the Cowboys last spring in NCAA stroke play. Duke, a team that has won twice this fall, was 3 under and took the top seed. Defending champion Oklahoma State was two shots behind that in second.

On Tuesday, Duke will face off against Auburn, who finished fourth at 8 over, while Oklahoma State gets Alabama in a rematch of last spring’s NCAA final. Oklahoma State has its same lineup as in the championship match, but for one player. Hayden Wood is playing in place of Kristoffer Ventura, who finished his eligibility last year. Three of Alabama’s players are the same. Interestingly, there are no repeat matches among individuals.

On the women’s side, Stanford finished first by 10 shots, even though the tournament essentially resets on Tuesday. The Cardinal was 2 under while USC, the next-best team, was 8 over. Defending champion Arizona was third at 11 over and Alabama was fourth at 24 over. The Crimson Tide is without Lauren Stephenson and Kristen Gillman, two of its top players, as they compete at LPGA Q-Series.

Stanford and Alabama will face off while USC will play Arizona.

Even though the East Lake Cup is predominantly about match play, the stroke-play champion was still celebrated on Monday. The top player on the men’s side was Oklahoma State’s Viktor Hovland, the U.S. Amateur champion. Hovland had 4-under 68 at East Lake.

Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela also had a 4-under 68 to finish atop the women’s individual leaderboard.