USC and Stanford will be in the four-team field of the Women’s Division in the East Lake Cup on Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the Golf Channel announced.
The eight teams that reached the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s golf championships, including national champions Oklahoma (men) and Arizona State (women) will compete in the event presented by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
“Looking forward to our second trip to this fantastic event!” read a message on the USC Women’s Golf page and on Twitter.
Northwestern, runner-up to Arizona State last spring, will round out the women’s field.
Arizona State has won a record eight NCAA women’s national championships, while USC claimed the latest of its three in 2013, Stanford captured its only title in 2015 and Northwestern is still looking for its first.
“This is such a cool event and the East Lake Golf Club has such an amazing history,” Arizona State women’s Coach Missy Farr-Kaye said. “I love this format, and am excited to bring my team to Atlanta to experience this event. We’ve got a target on our back from beating two of the three teams in the NCAA championships last year, but we are very excited to have this opportunity.”
Joining two-time NCAA champion Oklahoma in the men’s field will be 2016 national champion Oregon, Illinois and Vanderbilt.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to compete in the East Lake Cup,” Oklahoma men’s Coach Ryan Hybl said. “It gives our team a chance to compete at one of the top golf courses in the country against three outstanding programs. It will be a great challenge, but an exciting three days for collegiate golf fans.”
The East Lake Cup follows the format from the NCAA men’s and women’s golf national championships, with the teams competing in stroke play on day one to determine the individual champion and the seedings for two days of match-play competition to decide the team championships.
The event is played at East Lake Golf Club, home of the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship, which determines the FedExCup champion.
The East Lake Cup also features the Tom Cousins Award, which is given to outstanding male and female golfers who exemplify the values of the East Lake Foundation, excelling in academics, while being engaged in his or her community and overcoming adversity.
Casey Danielson of Stanford and Patrick Martin of Vanderbilt were recipients of the 2016 Tom Cousins Awards.
