Nation’s current top-ranked programs (Vanderbilt men and UCLA women); reigning NCAA national champions (Oregon men and Washington women); and nation’s top-ranked amateurs headline elite field of golf’s future stars; Eight of the nation’s top programs to compete in expanded three days of competition at renowned East Lake Golf Club; Men: Oregon, Texas, Illinois and Vanderbilt; Women: Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Duke; Free general admission and public parking for the East Lake Cup; School mascots in attendance on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1
ORLANDO, Fla. Oct. 26, 2016 -Eight of the nation’s top-ranked golf programs will convene to compete in the second-annual East Lake Cup presented by Hewlett Packard Enterprise collegiate match play championship, Monday-Wednesday, Oct. 31- Nov. 2 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., airing live on Golf Channel and benefitting the East Lake Foundation.
The elite eight team field will be headlined by 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 will feature the top ranked collegiate golfers in the country, including Oregon’s Wyndham Clark and Stanford’s Andrea Lee [based on Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings].
PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS: The men’s division of the East Lake Cup will include the 2016 reigning NCAA National Champions University of Oregon; runner-up University of Texas; the 2015 East Lake Cup champion University of Illinois, coming off a school-record nine-tournament-win season; and Vanderbilt University, currently the top-ranked program in the country with three top-five finishes – including one win – thus far in the 2016-17 season.
The women’s division will feature all four teams from the 2016 NCAA National Championship semifinals, headlined by reigning national champions University of Washington; 2016 runner-up and 2015 national champions Stanford University; three-time national champions and current top-ranked program in the country, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA); and six-time national champions Duke University.
EXPANDED FORMAT FOR 2016: The East Lake Cup will expand to three days of live tournament action, following a format from the NCAA men’s and women’s Golf National Championships. On Monday, Oct. 31, the eight teams will compete in individual stroke play competitions to determine the individual champions and to seed for two days of match-play competition. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 1-2, two match-play tournaments will be hosted simultaneously for the men’s and women’s divisions, with the semifinals taking place on Tuesday and the finals and consolation matches on Wednesday.
Teams for the East Lake Cup will compete on the championship golf course at East Lake Golf Club, home of the TOUR Championship, the season-ending event of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs. The East Lake Cup benefits the East Lake Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to helping families build better lives and children reach their highest potential through its holistic approach to community revitalization incorporating mixed-income housing, cradle-to-college education and community wellness. The inaugural East Lake Cup, in association with presenting sponsor Hewlett Packard Enterprise and associate sponsors BMW, CSX and Rolex, raised $475,000 for the East Lake Foundation.
GOLF CHANNEL NEWS AND TOURNAMENT COVERAGE: Live tournament coverage of the East Lake Cup will air on Golf Channel from 3-6 p.m. ET each day and will replay in primetime. In addition, Golf Central and Morning Drive will be live and on-site at East Lake, surrounding live tournament coverage with pre- and post-event news coverage.
GOLF CHANNEL BROADCAST TEAMS: Golf Channel’s on-air team for the East Lake Cup will feature Hall-of-Famer Lanny Wadkins as lead analyst and Bob Papa as play-by-play host. Curt Byrum and Steve Burkowski will serve as hole announcers, with Notah Begay, Billy Ray Brown and Kay Cockerill reporting from the course. Lisa Cornwell and Charlie Rymer will host Golf Central, with Paige Mackenzie hosting Morning Drive. Chantel McCabe and Golf Channel Digital senior writer Ryan Lavner will report for both Golf Central and Morning Drive throughout the week.
DIGITAL COVERAGE: Golf Channel Digital senior writer Ryan Lavner will report on-site from East Lake with daily reports, blogs and features. News and tournament coverage will be streamed live on Golf Live Extra. Complete information on the East Lake Cup can be found on the tournament website here. Fans also can stay connected with the championship on social media using the hashtag #EastLakeCup.
Golf Channel East Lake Cup News / Tournament Coverage (live, all times ET)
Monday, Oct. 31 Morning Drive 7-9 a.m.
Monday, Oct. 31 Golf Central Pre Game 2-3 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 31 Individual Stroke Play Championship 3-6 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 31 Golf Central 6-7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 1 Morning Drive 7-9 a.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 1 Golf Central Pre Game 2-3 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 1 Semifinals, Match Play 3-6 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 1 Golf Central 6-7 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 2 Morning Drive 7-9 a.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 2 Golf Central Pre Game 2-3 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 2 Finals, Match Play 3-6 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 2 Golf Central 6-7 p.m.
TOM COUSINS AWARD PRESENTATION, SATURDAY, OCT. 29: The East Lake Cup features the presentation of the Tom Cousins Award, an annual recognition of an outstanding male and female golfer who exemplify the values of the East Lake Foundation: excels in academics, engagement in his or her community and overcomes adversity. The 2016 Tom Cousins Award presentation will take place at the East Lake Cup Celebration Saturday night, Oct. 29 at the College Football Hall of Fame. This award is named after Tom Cousins, founder of the East Lake Foundation, which transformed a community in despair into a thriving neighborhood, now a national model for community redevelopment through Purpose Built Communities. Baylor’s Laura Lonardi and Illinois’ Alex Burge were the first recipients of the Tom Cousins Award.
FEATURES:
• Illinois’ Dylan Meyer’s rise to become one of the world’s top amateurs – Illinois junior Dylan Meyer had a breakout summer, capturing the 2016 Western Amateur and the Tri-State Amateur championships to position himself among the top amateur players in the world.
• UCLA’s Bronte Law, the LPGA’s next superstar — To find the next LPGA superstar in the wings, a good place to look is to the reigning NCAA player of the year and the 2016 Annika Award winner, UCLA senior Bronte Law.
• Duke’s Leona Maguire, 2016 Olympian – Leona Maguire was one of three collegiate golfers to have an opportunity to represent their country in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Duke junior reflects on her trip to Rio that she shared with her twin sister, Lisa.
• 2016 Men’s National Champions Oregon – The 2016 NCAA Men’s Championship was a storybook finish for host school Oregon. Golf Channel takes a look back at the dramatic conclusion between Oregon and Texas in June in Eugene, Ore., where Oregon captured its first national championship.
• 2016 Women’s National Champions Washington – In one of the most dramatic finishes of the year in women’s golf – professional or amateur – Golf Channel will look back at the exciting championship between Washington and Stanford, where Washington won its first national championship in school history.
• East Lake Foundation and History of East Lake Golf Club – East Lake Golf Club’s rich history and legacy was overshadowed by the deterioration of the community in the late 1980’s-1990’s. Golf Channel takes a look at the vision of Tom Cousins and the East Lake Foundation’s revitalization of the East Lake Community, which today is a benchmark for Purposed Built Communities currently in development nationwide.
MASCOTS TO INTERACT WITH FANS AT EAST LAKE CUP: The mascots for the respective universities will be in attendance at East Lake Golf Club on Monday, Oct. 31 and Tuesday, Nov. 1, interacting with fans and participating in Golf Channel’s news and tournament coverage. In addition, Northern Illinois’ mascot – the host school for the 2017 NCAA Division I Golf Championships – will be on-site at East Lake Golf Club.
FREE GENERAL ADMISSION FOR EAST LAKE CUP: General admission and parking for the East Lake Cup is free and open to the public. Complimentary tickets are available here and free parking is located at the Charles R Drew Charter School: 301 East Lake Blvd., Atlanta, Ga. Shuttle service will be provided to and from East Lake Golf Club.
About the East Lake Foundation
Founded in 1995 on the belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, the East Lake Foundation collaborates with public and private organizations to provide tools that enable Atlanta’s East Lake residents to build a better future through its model for community revitalization.
The East Lake model includes cradle-to-college education at Charles R. Drew Charter School and its early learning partners, mixed-income housing at The Villages of East Lake and community wellness through programs including The First Tee® of East Lake, the Resident and Community Support Program, the East Lake Community Learning Garden, Start ME: East Lake micro-entrepreneur program and East Lake Healthy Connections. This approach to building a strong community not only helps break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, but creates a place where people of all ages and incomes choose to live. East Lake has become a national model for holistic community revitalization programs through its sister organization, Purpose Built Communities. Additional information is available at www.eastlakefoundation.org.
About East Lake Golf Club
Located in Atlanta, the East Lake Golf Club is the home course of legendary golfer Bobby Jones and is the oldest golf course in the city of Atlanta. The Club is not only historic, but philanthropic as well. Proceeds from operations support the East Lake Foundation, now serving as a national model for holistic community redevelopment across the country through Purpose Built Communities.
Over the years, the golf course has hosted many national and regional championships, including the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur, 1963 Ryder Cup, and 2001 U.S. Men’s Amateur. It is now the permanent home of the TOUR Championship, the culminating event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedEx Cup. Additional information may be found at www.eastlakegolfclub.com
About Golf Channel
Golf Channel is a multimedia, golf entertainment and services company based in Orlando, Fla. Serving the most-affluent audience in all of television, Golf Channel – co-founded by Arnold Palmer in 1995 and now part of NBC Sports Group – is available in more than 200 million homes in 84 countries and 11 languages around the world. Golf Channel features more live golf coverage than all other networks combined, including tournament action from the PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour, The Open, Olympics, and Ryder Cup, as well as high-quality news, instruction and original programming. Golf Channel’s digital platforms, headed by GolfChannel.com, deliver unmatched coverage of the world of golf. Fans are able to enjoy 24/7 live streaming of Golf Channel content through Golf Live Extra and the NBC Sports App, both powered by Playmaker Media, and select programming is simulcast via SiriusXM’s PGA TOUR Radio. In addition, Golf Channel connects the world to golf through a wide array of digital and lifestyle services including Golf Channel Mobile, a comprehensive app covering golf’s latest headlines, scores and analysis; GolfNow, the world’s largest online tee time booking platform and golf course technology partner, which includes the GolfNow Mobile App, featuring on-course GPS tracking, in-round scoring and game tracking; GolfAdvisor.com, the world’s largest golf course ratings and review resource for golfers, by golfers; a North American network of Golf Channel Academy instructional facilities; and Golf Channel Am Tour, the world’s largest amateur golf tour.
Contact:
Media Contact:
Jeremy Friedman
Golf Channel Communications
407-355-4058
Jeremy.Friedman@golfchannel.com
Jeff Szklinski
Golf Channel Communications
407-248-3267
Jeff.Szklinski@golfchannel.com
Tom Sprouse
East Lake Cup Media Director
614-889-6791
tsprouse@hnssports.com