No. 2 USC heads to Atlanta this week with another big stage waiting at the East Lake Cup, the final stop of the Trojans’ fall season. The tournament runs Oct. 26-28 at East Lake Golf Club, and every round will be shown nationally on Golf Channel.
USC enters a four-team field that also includes No. 21 Arkansas, Eastern Michigan and T-No.
25 Oklahoma State. Each of those programs reached match play in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans know that group well, too: USC knocked off Arkansas 3-2 in the semifinals after Arkansas had beaten Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals.
The format starts with one round of stroke play on Monday to set the seeding and crown an individual champion. That round begins at 7:30 a.m.
PT. Match play follows on Tuesday at 7:40 a.m.
PT, with the championship match set for Wednesday at 7:40 a.m. PT.
USC will send Kylie Chong, Sarah Hammett, Jasmine Koo, Elise Lee and Bailey Shoemaker into the lineup. Four of those five were part of last year’s group, with Shoemaker having played in the lineup as both a freshman and sophomore.
Last year’s East Lake Cup brought plenty back to USC’s side of the ledger. Koo won the individual title and was part of a sweep of the team and individual crowns in 2024. That victory also counted as one of her school-record four wins that season.
The Trojans are also back for their fourth straight East Lake Cup appearance. A year ago, the stroke-play portion was trimmed to nine holes because of weather, and Sarah Hammett’s shared third-place finish paced USC. The Trojans placed second in stroke play before falling to defending national champion and 3-seed Northwestern in the quarterfinals, then came back to beat Florida State in the consolation match.
Monday’s opening round will also feature the announcement of the Tom Cousins Award at the evening reception. Shoemaker received that honor last season.
East Lake Golf Club measures 6,185 yards and plays to a par of 72. The event uses a 5-count 4, 18-hole stroke-play format before two rounds of match play, with live scoring available via Scoreboard.
Monday’s tee times begin with Chong at 7:30 a.m. PT on hole 1, followed by Lee at 7:42 a.m.
PT, Hammett at 7:54 a.m. PT, Shoemaker at 8:06 a.m.
PT and Koo at 8:18 a.m. PT.
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