Tag: Stephens Cup

Defending national champion Wake Forest, Florida State capture Jackson T. Stephens Cup titles

Both matches came down to the wire.

DALLAS — The Wake Forest women’s golf team is no stranger to success in match play in the calendar year.

The Demon Deacons went 3-0 at Grayhawk Golf Club in May, capturing their first NCAA Championship in school history in Scottsdale, Arizona. On Wednesday, they added yet another match-play victory to the total.

Featuring a lineup with a couple new faces from that victory five months ago, Wake Forest captured the 2023 Jackson T. Stephens Cup title, topping Texas 3-2 at Trinity Forest Golf Club for the title. Last year, the Demon Deacons fell to Stanford in the tournament. However, after finishing second in stroke play this year, Wake Forest had a strong performance from a couple vets and a freshman to earn their second victory of the fall.

“When you have a lot of new pieces, you need to play a lot of tournaments to figure out what you have,” Wake Forest coach Kim Lewellen said of incorporating new players into the lineup. “That’s why we’ve stacked a lot of tournaments this fall. We’re really using it to build for next spring and gather information.”

One of those newcomers, freshman Macy Pate, clinched the final point to earn Wake Forest, ranked third in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, the victory over No. 12 Texas, beating fellow freshman Farah O’Keefe. Pate won 4 and 2 after trailing through four holes.

“You recruit somebody and you don’t know exactly what you’re getting,” Lewellen said, “but right out of the gate, her work ethic, her IQ, she’s very professional. She handled match play beautifully.”

Also earning points for the Demon Deacons were four-time All-American Rachel Kuehn, who dispatched Bohyun Park 5 and 4, and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, who beat individual medalist Lauren Kim 3 and 1.

Meanwhile, on the men’s side, it was No. 28 Florida State, the top seed after 54 holes of stroke play, taking down No. 23 Arizona 3-2.

However, the Wildcats had an opportunity to force extra holes that slid by. With the match tied at 2, Florida State’s Brett Roberts was 1 up on the 18th when his approach shot went long. Then he left his chip short and missed a par putt, meaning Arizona’s Johnny Walker had two putts to force extra holes.

Walker’s birdie putt slid past about 3 feet, but he lipped out the par putt to win the hole, giving the victory to Roberts and the Seminoles.

“We’re just going to keep learning,” Florida State coach Trey Jones said. “Last year, we lost to North Carolina in match play. This year, we came back and won. But it’s all about the guys.”

Florida State, which made the semifinals at the NCAA Championship last year, was missing Jack Bigham from its lineup this week. He is preparing for the World Amateur Team Championship competition, coming in a week in Abu Dhabi, but the Seminoles’ depth showed.

In the leadoff spot, Frederik Kjettrup earned a 4-and-3 victory for the first point. In the anchor spot, Luke Clanton tallied a 5-and-3 win. Then it was Roberts, even with his miscue on the 18th hole, doing enough to earn the clinching point.

“It’s the culture we have,” Jones said of the depth. “It doesn’t really matter who’s in there.”

Breaking down Wednesday’s match-play bracket at the 2023 Jackson T. Stephens Cup

The match play bracket is set.

DALLAS — It’s time for match play at one of the growing fall college golf events.

Stroke play for the 2023 Jackson T. Stephens Cup concluded Tuesday at Trinity Forest Golf Club, with Arizona junior Tiger Christensen capturing the men’s medalist honors while Texas’ Lauren Kim and Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek tied after 54 holes. The duo went three playoff holes Tuesday night before darkness and will return Wednesday morning to crown a women’s individual champion.

The event is in its third year and is named in honor of the late chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and prominent Arkansas businessman Jackson Stephens. It features 54 holes of stroke play with a match-play final between the top two teams from stroke play battling for the team titles and a third-place match between the third- and fourth-place finishers from stroke play.

Here’s a breakdown of Wednesday’s bracket for match play, including pairings for each championship matchup.

College golfer named Tiger captures medalist honors at 2023 Jackson T. Stephens Cup

Something about Tigers and golf …

DALLAS — It’s safe to say the name Tiger is synonymous with golf.

Eldrick Woods made sure of that.

Tiger Christensen, a junior at Arizona, is also making a name for himself in the golf world.

Christensen, from Germany, won for the third time in his college career, capturing medalist honors Tuesday at the third annual Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Trinity Forest Golf Club. He shot 8-under 64 in the final round, finishing at 19-under 197 for the tournament, giving credit to some tweaks in his driver coming into the event. He missed only two of 42 fairways in the three rounds of stroke play.

“I felt pretty confident coming into this tournament,” Christensen said. “In qualifying, I missed only like four fairways over three rounds. But to miss only two over 54 holes is pretty good.”

The 19-under mark also set a new program record for 54-hole score.

Christensen also said he was pretty comfortable on the greens all week, crediting a new drill in his warmup leading into the tournament. He didn’t have one three-putt all week, and he couldn’t remember the last time he went 54 holes without three-putting.

He won by five shots over Florida State’s Cole Anderson, who finished at 14-under 202. Arizona’s Zach Pollo and LSU’s Connor Gaunt tied for third at 13 under.

More importantly, Christensen helped guide Arizona into the match play final Wednesday, where the Wildcats will face Anderson and the Seminoles for the team title.

As far as the comparisons to Big Cat, Christensen said he’s a fan.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” he said. “And like, I don’t know, it doesn’t really affect me at all. I just think it’s cool. I’d never want to be named a different name.”

SMU and LSU will play in the third-place match Wednesday. Trinity Forest is SMU’s home course.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, a medalist has yet to be crowned.

Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek three-putted the last hole and made bogey, moving her to 11-under 205. Meanwhile, Texas’ Lauren Kim birdied her final two holes to tie Cernousek at 11 under and force a playoff for individual honors.

The duo each made par on the par-4 18th and par-4 first hole. Then on the par-3 17th, Kim hit her tee shot to about 3 feet while Cernousek had roughly 15 feet for birdie.

Cernousek’s putt slid by, leaving an opportunity for Kim to pounce, but her putt missed in the near darkness. Both players made their putts for par and will resume the playoff at 10 a.m. ET on the 13th hole.

In the team competition, Texas and Wake Forest, the defending national champions, tied at 23-under 841 after stroke play and will face off in the match play final on Wednesday afternoon.

Match play will be broadcast on Golf Channel from 4-7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

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Stephens Cup will bring college golf to Seminole, among other top venues

The Stephens Cup will debut in 2021, opening the door to some of the nation’s top venues for college golfers.

College golf venues are increasing in grandeur, and the newly formed Jackson T. Stephens Cup is a good example of that. The new event goes on the books next fall and will debut at the Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, a former Western Amateur venue. The next two editions of the tournament rotate to Seminole Golf club in Juno Beach, Florida, in 2022 and Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas in 2023.

The name comes from Jackson T. Stephens, a former Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club. His son Warren will serve as tournament chairman while Bill Macatee, longtime CBS Sports golf anchor, will be the vice chairman. Mark Brazil, tournament director for the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Cup, will be the tournament director with the American Junior Golf Association managing tournament operations.

There’s something to the idea that if you host it, they will come. The tournament committee’s goal is to assemble the strongest competition possible in college golf. The field will include seven of the top NCAA Division I men’s and women’s teams in the country, with an eighth team in each group competing at the invitation of the host club.

For the inaugural tournament in 2021, a selection committee will invite the teams by the end of 2020. For subsequent tournaments, invitations will be determined through a unique Stephens Cup ranking based on the Golfweek and Golfstat college rankings.

“Our goal is to create a distinctive and highly-competitive collegiate tournament that is comprised of tomorrow’s PGA Tour and LPGA stars playing some of the country’s premier golf courses,” said Warren Stephens. “Dad truly believed that golf instilled life lessons and built character, especially when started young. Therefore, he would be very humbled and proud that this tournament is named in his honor.”

Brazil noted that the tournament must be worthy of its namesake, and the current three-course lineup certainly makes it so. The Alotian Club is s ranked 14th on Golfweek’s Best list of the top 200 modern courses in the country.

The ultra-private Seminole Golf Club, a classic Donald Ross design that will host the Walker Cup matches in 2021, needs no introduction. The links-style Trinity Forest is a previous host of the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Classic.

The tournament, to be played Oct. 18-20, 2021, will begin with 54 holes of stroke play, divided into two 27-hole days, which will set up a match-play bracket for a final day of 18-hole matches. The event will also recognize its 54-hole winners upon completion of stroke play.

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