Quick 9: Atypical Trophies IX
Spring 2025
One of the best things about college golf is the sheer number of tournaments hosted around the country each season. Each one has its own unique style and array of atypical trophies and awards. Some will make excellent additions to trophy cases while others will adorn practice facility walls. All of them tell a story.
Won’t you join me for a picturesque quick 9?
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1. GANTNER CUP [Feb 1, 2025]
Not all of the interesting hardware in college golf comes from official tournaments. Despite the fact that most of the season is spent playing in multi-team tournaments, several teams across the country maintain small 2-4 team matches. Whether considered official or unofficial as far as the NCAA (and postseason considerations) goes, these matches serve as an important way for teams to return to the roots of team college golf; and it doesn’t hurt that it makes for good practice for the match play style that determines the NCAA team championship.
One such unofficial match is between Michigan State and Northwestern for the Gantner Cup, named after the Michigan State AD Advisory Council member and host, Ron (and Katie) Gantner. Northwestern won this year’s match with a final tally of 5 matches won to 3.
2. BATTLE OF THE TRIAD [Mar 15, 2025]
Another match was the Battle of the Triad between High Point and Elon. The single day match was won by High Point on their home turf at Willow Creek, earning 11.5 points to Elon’s 4.5 over the course of two rounds.
3. BATTLE FOR THE BELL [Mar 17, 2025]
The UCLA vs Southern Cal Battle for the Bell goes back to 2023 with UCLA winning both the first match in February and the second in October. It has a deeper meaning beyond golf. From a piece from Laz Versalles for the Fire Pit Collective covering that first match:
Over two bright and blustery days in early February, the UCLA and USC women’s golf teams squared off in a match-play duel to see which proud program would claim the inaugural Victory Bell trophy. The Battle for the Bell, as the match was coined, delivered high-caliber golf and a chance to get a deeper look at two of the historic powerhouses in women’s golf.
There is another Victory Bell, just so you know. Since 1929, the Victory Bell has been awarded to the winning football team in the crosstown rivalry between USC and UCLA. USC leads the series, 50-33-7.
The somewhat impromptu Battle for the Bell was orchestrated by the coaches at the two schools: UCLA’s Carrie Forsyth and USC’s Justin Silverstein. “Schools are allowed 24 competition days per season and we both had two extra days so we put this together,” Forsyth said. The first day of the event was held at Sherwood Country Club, where the Bruins can be found playing practice rounds, and the second day was at Rolling Hills Country Club, home to the Trojans.
USC finally found victory in this third edition, promising to give that Bruin Blue bell a new paint job before next year’s battle.
4. OLD BARNWELL DERBY [Mar 17-18, 2025]
Old Barnwell is quickly becoming one of the most talked about new courses since opening in 2023 near historic Aiken, South Carolina. It served as the perfect site for a major match between eight of the top women’s teams: Auburn, Duke, FSU, Miss St, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wake Forest. At the end of three 5-player team matches, Wake Forest stood victorious over South Carolina as the Old Barnwell Derby Matchup champion. Don’t be surprised when some of these same matches are replayed at NCAAs.
Fellow Substacker Bestball provided us with the closeup image of the trophy below. Be sure to check out their writing as well as their Instagram.
5. SWEETENS COVE INTERCOLLEGIATE [Mar 24-26, 2025]
A similar match play event played out at another trending course, Sweetens Cove in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Three team matches wasn’t enough, however, as Miami (OH) and Seton Hall finished as co-champions after the matches concluded with 3 points each and were even on all three tie-breakers! Guess we’ll all just agree to have a drink to that.
6. FLORIDA STATE MATCH UP [Mar 21-23, 2025]
Florida State has been absolutely cruising lately, so it’s no surprise they would come out on top at home, but even they were probably (pleasantly) surprised by the 42-stroke victory capped off by the -19/269 final round. The Seminoles finished 1-2-3 as Mirabel Ting captured her fifth individual medalist honors this season (in six tries!) over teammates Kaylah Williams and Lottie Woad. Sophia Fullbrook finished T7 to give FSU four players finishing in the top 10. Ting finished 66-67-67=200/-16 to set numerous tournament and program records in her 10 stroke victory.
7. SAVANNAH INVITATIONAL [Mar 3-4, 2025]
A combination of Washington & Lee shooting 3-under as a team on their final hole and Methodist going one-over resulted in W&L taking home the boat by a single stroke at the Savannah Invitational. Sophomore Jonathan McEwen [Washington & Lee] made it a hardware sweep, winning by three strokes over Chase Walts [Methodist].
EDIT:
Thanks to Lindsey for asking for more info on this trophy! Coach Brian Farrer of host Berry College recently posted this regarding the style of trophies given out at this tournament which is held at the Club at Savannah Harbor:
I host a college golf tournament in Savannah at Savannah Harbor and my goal is for our trophies to have a ship/port theme to them. My goal is to have trophies that are conversation pieces at they sit in coaches offices or dorms of the kids.
I’d say he definitely achieved his goal and is exactly the type of thing we here appreciate when seeing unique college golf awards!
8. JEKYLL ISLAND INVITATIONAL [Mar 21-23, 2025]
Jekyll Island served as an incredible site for not one but two major matchups for several of the top men’s and women’s D3 teams.
On the men’s side, Huntingdon College and Washington & Lee raced up the leaderboard with final rounds that reached double-digits under par. Washington & Lee’s Jonathan McEwen put together three rounds in the 60s to earn individual medalist honors, but it was Huntingdon that took the team hardware.
The women were also locked in a fierce battle with both Emory and Carnegie Mellon shooting under par for the day. Despite the charge, Emory was able to hold on for the single stroke victory. The leading player for both teams finished runner-up behind Wellesley’s Audrey Wang. She was one of four players under par in the final round and stood alone as the only player in a field of 120 at par for the tournament.
9. THE GOODWIN [Mar 27-29, 2025]
The 56th edition of the Stanford tournament (re)named to honor the great Coach Wally Goodwin returned to Stanford Golf Course after two years at TCP Harding Park. UCLA came out of the gate a bit rusty coming off a month of rest, but a second round -8/272 propelled them to the top of the leaderboard where they finished the tournament. As the Goodwin champs, the Bruins earned a cool trophy and perhaps some even cooler belt buckles. There was a 5-way tie on the individual side between Gabriel Palacios [Utah], JP Odland [Santa Clara], Peter Kim [BYU], Daniel Svard [Northwestern], and Freddie Turnell [Little Rock]. Since there could only be one winner of the trophy and jacket but no time to conduct a playoff, the final round score was used as the tie-breaker, leaving Little Rock freshman Freddie Turnell the ultimate winner.
We will definitely be doing more posts on college golf trophies! Let me know what suggestions you have on trophies to highlight.
Do you have the back story on the Savannah Invitational boat trophy? I’m so curious why that was chosen!