Eight of the top programs in college golf will gather in Atlanta next week for the sixth annual East Lake Cup presented by ZipRecruiter and Uber Eats. The competition will take place Monday through Wednesday (Oct. 26-28) and air live on GOLF Channel from East Lake Golf Club:
Monday, Oct. 26 3-6 p.m. ET (Live)
Tuesday, Oct. 27 3-6 p.m. ET (Live)
Wednesday, Oct. 28 3-6 p.m. ET (Live)
The East Lake Cup has become an annual staple on college golf’s fall calendar, traditionally reconvening the semifinal teams from both the women’s and men’s NCAA Championships from earlier in the year. As a result of COVID-19 and the 2020 NCAA Championship being canceled, the field this year will include the top-four ranked women’s and men’s golf programs (competing this fall), based on the final Golfstat rankings published on March 19. The 2020 East Lake Cup also will be contested without spectators.
EAST LAKE CUP FIELD: The women’s field will include Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Texas, with each team competing in the event for the first time. The men’s side will feature Oklahoma, Pepperdine, Texas and Texas Tech. The Texas men’s team will look to defend its 2019 East Lake Cup title, while Pepperdine and Texas Tech make their first appearance in the event.
The field will feature several of golf’s top-ranked amateurs (according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings), including: Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (No. 4 – South Carolina) and Kaitlyn Papp (No. 18 – Texas) on the women’s side. The men’s field is scheduled to include at least three players ranked inside the top-20: Pierceson Coody (No. 7 – Texas), William Mouw (No. 16 – Pepperdine) and Quade Cummins (No. 17 – Oklahoma). Cummins also is currently ranked No. 9 in the latest top-10 of the PGA TOUR University ranking. Initially announced in June, “PGA TOUR U” is a new program designed to give post-college playing privileges to the top Division I golfers (in their senior year) on the TOUR’s various developmental tours, including the Korn Ferry TOUR.
EVENT FORMAT: The tournament format is modeled after the NCAA Championships, consisting of an opening round of stroke play to determine an individual male and female champion, and to assign seeding for the following two days of match play.
Male winners of the stroke play portion at the East Lake Cup include Scottie Scheffler (2016) and Viktor Hovland (2018), each of whom returned to East Lake last month as two of the 30 players competing in the PGA TOUR’s season-culminating TOUR Championship. Notably on the women’s side, Andrea Lee won the individual format in 2016 as a freshman, and is currently 48th in the Race to the CME Globe standings while competing in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour.
BROADCAST TEAM: GOLF Channel’s live tournament broadcast team will be anchored by Bob Papa, Curt Byrum and Steve Burkowski in the broadcast booth. Billy Ray Brown also will contribute to coverage as an on-course reporter.
NEWS COVERAGE: Preceding live tournament coverage will be a special College Central show outlining top storylines each day from 2-3 p.m. ET. Cara Banks will host College Central and be joined in-studio by Tripp Isenhour and college insider Ryan Lavner. Burkowski will offer reports from on-site at East Lake Golf Club.
GOLF Channel associate editor Brentley Romine also will be on-site at East Lake providing editorial coverage, as well as content for the network’s digital and social media platforms.
EAST LAKE FOUNDATION: The event benefits the East Lake Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to helping families build better lives and children reach their highest potential. The foundation fosters a holistic approach to community revitalization, incorporating mixed-income housing, cradle-to-college education and community wellness.
The Tom Cousins Award is an annual recognition at the East Lake Cup, presented to an outstanding male and female golfer who exemplify the values of the East Lake Foundation: exceling in academics and engagement in his or her community. The award – presented on Monday night of tournament week – is named for Atlanta philanthropist Tom Cousins, founder of the East Lake Foundation, who led the transformation of a community in despair into a thriving neighborhood which has become a national model for community redevelopment through Purpose Built Communities.
The East Lake Cup is one of the largest contributors to the East Lake Foundation, having raised more than $1.5 million for the foundation since the tournament’s inception in 2015. ZipRecuriter and Uber Eats are the presenting sponsors of the 2020 East Lake Cup, with Bridgestone Golf, Mercedes-Benz and Topgolf serving as additional sponsors of the tournament.
HOME OF COLLEGE GOLF: GOLF Channel is the television home for college golf, televising six college golf championships. Following its announcement in 2013 as the exclusive television provider of the NCAA Golf Championships, GOLF Channel has provided live coverage of the men’s NCAA Championships since 2014 and the women’s NCAA Championships since 2015, which now are hosted at the same venue in consecutive weeks. The 2021 NCAA Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships will take place at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
In addition to the NCAA Championships and the East Lake Cup, GOLF Channel also televises the Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf, one of the longest running college tournaments in the U.S. taking place at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif; the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational at Maridoe Golf Club in Texas, and the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. GOLF Channel also deploys its comprehensive portfolio of news, digital and social media coverage year-round in covering collegiate golf, including specials for regional and national qualifying, on-site and wraparound news from golf’s biggest college events, and year-end award shows for the Haskins and ANNIKA Awards presented by Stifel.