Auburn, Arkansas claim big wins at East Lake Cup

Two days after capturing the individual championship in Atlanta, Arkansas senior María José Marín closed out the match play finals of the East Lake Cup to propel the Razorbacks into the winner’s circle.

Marín knocked off Oklahoma State’s Marta Silchenko for the winning point on Wednesday afternoon in what proved to be a pair of routes on both the men’s and women’s side.

Swetha Sathish and Sara Brentcheneff won each their matches, 2 and 1, to give Arkansas three full points. Ebba Liljeberg provided an additional half point to the bottom result, splitting with Oklahoma State’s breakout star Louise Depadt after the match had been decided.

“We’ve had so much fun all week, such a great opportunity to end the fall golf season with a win” said Arkansas head coach Shauna Taylor after winning in her program’s debut at the East Lake Cup.

“If you could ride in our car, you’d have a lot of laughs,” she added, “but there’s a lot of hard work that goes into it, so it’s a great recipe for success.”

From Marín’s leadership to Sathish’s first match-play point in college, Taylor said the entire experience helped all of her players grow.

“Our coach always says that even if you didn’t contribute with your score, you’re contributing something with your positive vibes so I’d like to think we’ve all contributed somehow this week — a lot,” said Sathish. “Getting this point means a lot and getting my first match play win is a great start.”

Auburn captured the men’s team championship with a dominant 4–to-1 win over Oklahoma State in the match-play finals on the men’s side, featuring key performances from Logan Reilly and Josiah Gilbert.

“We’ve got a bunch of dudes — we’ve got some guys who can flat out play,” said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. “They compete hard and they love to practice, and they’re determined to keep getting better.”

Cayden Pope and Billy Davis also won their matches straight up, securing full points for the reigning-national Tigers.

Davis had the hardest match of the round, going 19 holes with Cowboys senior Eric Lee.

The Tiger junior watched his opponent eagle the final hole to force the playoff before Lee hit the water at the par-3 15th hole which depressurized the situation somewhat.

“I was aiming left knowing Eric was already in the water so playing safe and hit a good shot,” said Davis of getting the clinching point for Auburn.

On paper though, it was Reilly with the toughest assignment. He had to hold off the world’s top-ranked amateur Preston Stout, two days after they shared co-medalists honors and broke Scottie Scheffler’s collegiate course record.

Reilly went down two shots early in the match before taking it, 3 and 2, over Stout.

“Kept playing my game, kept putting myself from the fairway — knew I could attack from there,” said Reilly.

“To get the co-medalist and then win this with the boys is great,” he added. “It couldn’t be better heading into our next tournament and into the offseason. We were looking to end it on a high note, and what a week.”