Cypress Point, Atlanta Athletic Club set to host NCAA golf events

Being a college golfer right now is incredibly exciting and full of opportunities.

Just a week after the historic U.S. college event at St. Andrews Links’ Old Course, two more renowned courses are set to host college tournaments starting Monday: Atlanta Athletic Club and Cypress Point.

Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course, which has seen three PGA Championships and a U.S. Open, will be the venue for this year’s East Lake Cup. This decision was made due to restoration work taking place at East Lake. The tournament will feature the reigning NCAA semifinalists for both the men’s and women’s sides: Florida, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, Wake Forest, USC, Stanford, and Texas A&M. Golf Channel will be televising the three-day event.

The format for the East Lake Cup involves 18 holes of stroke play on Monday to determine the match-play seeds, followed by two rounds of match play the next two days.

The Lady Trojans are coming off a tremendous victory at Stanford’s event, despite missing key players Amari Avery and Christine Wang due to LPGA Q-School. Avery will be back in the lineup for East Lake. Stanford’s senior Rachel Heck will be absent for the second time in three events as she represents the U.S. in the PanAm Games. Texas A&M will also be without its star freshman Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio and statistically their best player of the fall, Adela Cernousek.

Florida’s Matthew Kress is the sole player from last season’s NCAA title-winning squad competing for the team. North Carolina, one of the top teams in the country, will have David Ford back from the World Amateur Team Championship, although top-10 amateur Dylan Menante will be missing due to the PanAm Games. Florida State will be without senior Cole Anderson, and Georgia Tech’s six-man lineup will be split, with five players, including Christo Lamprecht and Bartley Forrester, at East Lake and the remaining six competing on the Monterey Peninsula.

The Cypress Point Classic, a tournament played every few years, is taking place for the first time since 2019. The men’s field features host Stanford, Arizona State, Auburn, Texas, Tennessee, Illinois, Pepperdine, and Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech will complete its six-man lineup with Colson Brown, a walk-on quarterback for the Jackets’ football team. Preston Summerhays, who is participating in this week’s PGA Tour event in Cabo, will not be present for the Sun Devils.

The Tigers may be the favorites in the tournament, especially with Summerhays absent. Freshman Jackson Koivun has led Auburn to third place in the Coaches Poll. Auburn is one of the three teams receiving first-place votes, alongside No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Vanderbilt.

The format for the Cypress Point Classic is team match play, with a four-ball session and a foursomes session on Monday, followed by singles match play on Tuesday.