Auburn and USC Win the East Lake Cup, But...

In the men's competition, Auburn beat Alabama and, in the women's competition, USC beat Stanford. (Yes, those are links to the GC summaries of the events.) Congrats to the champs!

Golfweek photo

For the winners, this may seem to be a case of deja vu. USC won this event last year against Stanford, and Auburn beat Alabama in the SEC Championships earlier this year. Auburn won 4-1 and USC won 3-2. I don't think is so unusual, as both winning teams have largely the same personnel as they did in their previous wins.

What I find more interesting about this event is the controversial attention the LPGA Q-Series received. (And yes, that's a link to another GC article. When you already have thorough summaries, why re-invent the wheel?) As you probably know, the Alabama women's team wasn't at full strength because their two top players were competing in the Q-Series, having received exemptions from the LPGA. Bear in mind that the LPGA exemptions are "generic," in the sense that they are given to the Top5 college players, whoever they may be, as opposed to specific players asking for an exemption.

In this example, Alabama had the third and 4th ranked gamers -- Lauren Stephenson and Kristen Gillman -- and their journeys to the Q-Series basically decimated the team that went to East Lake. I do not suggest that as an insult to the gamers who competed at East Lake however, even inside the seasoned ranks, the Top4 or Top5 gamers are usually a step above all and sundry else.

I'll be involved to peer what the fallout from this "publicity" sooner or later is. The colleges and the LPGA have commonly gotten alongside quite nicely however this will motive a few serious friction, relying on what comes of it.

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