Ole Miss women continue to dominate East Lake Cup; Men’s side offers NCAA title preview

There’s something special brewing in Oxford, Mississippi, and the Ole Miss women’s golf team brought the recipe to Atlanta.

The Rebels were one of the hottest teams in college golf before the pandemic canceled the 2019-20 season and they’ve come out swinging this fall.

The reigning SEC champions and this week’s No. 1 seed dominated the first round of match play at the East Lake Cup, making quick work of Texas with a 4-0-1 win to advance to the finals on Wednesday morning. In two events so far this year, Ole Miss has a pair of fourth-place finishes.

Veteran leader and stroke play co-medalist Kennedy Swann, who made a deep run to the quarterfinals at this summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur, earned a 1 up victory over Texas’ Sophie Guo, followed by a trio of 2&1 wins from junior Ellen Hume, senior Julia Johnson and sophomore Chiara Tamburlini. Sophomore Andrea Lignell earned half a point with a tie against Texas freshman Ashley Park.

“We’ve been playing well in the last two tournaments, but we haven’t managed to win anything yet,” said Hume, who also earned stroke play medalist honors. “It would be a great way to end the semester despite the circumstances.”

A prestigious college event normally reserved for the semifinalists from the previous season’s NCAA Championship, this year’s East Lake Cup field was built based on the final spring Golfstat ranking, with teams not playing because of COVID-19 weeded out.

East Lake Cup: Women’s matches | Men’s matches

Joining the Rebels in the final match is South Carolina, who earned an impressive 3-1-1 victory over Florida thanks to some late-match heroics on the final green. Sophomores Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, the third-ranked player in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, and Mathilde Claisse put up early points while senior Lois Kaye Go sent the Gamecocks to the finals with a win in 19 holes, her only lead of the match. The lone match to avoid the 18th green was Florida senior Addie Baggarly’s 2&1 win against South Carolina senior Pimnipa Panthong.

“To be honest, I did feel some pressure, but it wasn’t as much as I used to like in the past,” said Kaye Go. “I just tried to keep myself calm, you know, breathe properly and yeah, it worked.”

Over on the men’s side, the struggles continued for Texas. The Longhorns led for most of the semifinals but a late push from rival Oklahoma, the top seed, propelled the Sooners 3-2 into the finals thanks to a 1 up win from senior leader Quade Cummins in the day’s final match. Oklahoma junior Logan McAllister and senior transfer Jonathan Brightwell both earned points with 19 hole victories while Texas sophomores Cole Hammer and Pierceson Coody both earned 5&4 wins.

Pepperdine, last year’s top-ranked team, continues to remind the college golf world just how good it is. The Waves crashed into the finals with a 3-2 win against Texas Tech behind a 6&4 win from junior Derek Hitchner and 4&3 win from junior Joe Highsmith. In fact, sophomore Dylan Menante’s 2 up win was the lone match to reach the 18th green.

“I think it’s easy to get wrapped up in the competition and tournaments, but really to stop and think like how fortunate are we to be able to play this fall. It’s something that we always have to remind ourselves,” said Pepperdine head coach Michael Beard.

With inclement weather in the forecast, Wednesday’s final matches will begin at 8:40 a.m. ET, with Golf Channel broadcasting from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.