Quick 9: Atypical Trophies III
Fall 2024
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?
*NOTE: underlined text provides a link to references or sites with more information
1. COUGAR CLASSIC [Sep 9-10, 2024]
Several top ranked teams opened their season at the 20th annual Cougar Classic hosted by the College of Charleston. The Seth Raynor designed Yeamans Hall Club course has a long history with college golf and this event in particular has seen some really interesting history including when Brooke Matthews broke the NCAA 54-hole record in 2021. This year, Auburn took home the team title, led by sophomore Anna Davis who captured runner-up honors behind Nicha Kanpai [Maryland] who had a fantastic closing 66/-5 to earn medalist honors by a single stroke. The individual and team winners are pictured below with the very cool permanent trophies, along with the framed “trophies” they get to keep.
2. ILLINI INVITATIONAL [Oct 7-8, 2024]
In Auburn’s third event of the season, Anna Davis won medalist honors at the Illini Invitational, setting program record(s) and bringing home some very cool hardware. Famed Medinah Country Club served as the setting for the tournament and inspiration for the trophies. The Ole Miss women kicked off a very special day for the golf program by shooting a final round 277/-11 to finish at -30 for the tournament, good enough for a 3 shot victory (their second consecutive this season).
3. HAMPTONS INTERCOLLEGIATE [Oct 7-8, 2024]
About 900 miles East of Medinah, the Ole Miss men won their own event at the Maidstone Club (NY). It was the first time since 1992 that both the men’s and women’s teams won team titles on the same day. It was made more special with Michael La Sasso also taking medalist honors by 9 strokes, the first of his career.
4. THE MOLLY COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL [Sep 30 - Oct 1, 2024]
Reigning NCAA champion Stanford Cardinal women officially opened their season at The Molly, earning a team victory and Stanford and co-medalist honors by Paula Martin Sampedro. The other co-medalist was Riana Mission [San Francisco] who gained her second consecutive win already this season. Normally the medalist receives a trophy along with a flag - which is similar to the winning team flag trophy - however it appears that the co-medalists split the awards, Paula taking the trophy and Riana taking the flag.
5. OREGON STATE INVITATIONAL [Oct 7-8, 2024]
If you’re looking for iconic trees on trophies, look no further than Oregon State’s home tournament. This year the UC Irvine team and Sam Renner [Washington St] left with some cool hardware. The trophy is based on the famous “Trysting Tree” which the host golf course derives its name and logo from.
6. REDHAWK INTERCOLLEGIATE [Oct 14-15, 2024]
Course features always make for uniquely cool trophies. Pittsburgh Field Club played host to Miami (OH)’s annual tournament which was won again by Marquette and co-medalists Patrick Adler [Marquette] and Brycen Jones [Georgia Southern]. Winners were awarded a representation of the course’s famous elevator. It’s the only on-course fully functioning enclosed elevator in the country, used by walkers to navigate the sheer elevation change going from the 17th green to the 18th.
7. NB3 MATCHPLAY AT TWIN WARRIORS [Oct 8-9, 2024]
Notah Begay III (NB3) and Twin Warriors brings us a brand new match play event that pitted the men’s and women’s teams from these same programs against each other: New Mexico, New Mexico State, Stanford, and Texas. Along with amazing visuals and fantastic commentary, Golf Channel viewers were treated to a really interesting tournament format. Teams played round-robin matches and the total accumulation of points determined the ultimate winners. New Mexico State won the men’s division, while Texas won the women’s division. The combined point total for the Texas men’s and women’s teams won them the program division trophy.
8. GOLFWEEK FALL CHALLENGE [Sep 8-10, 2024]
Golfweek puts on a couple of fantastic events in the fall which sport some very cool trophies. The medalist and winning team each get a nice glass painted with a cool pattern on the inside, and the members of the winning team each get bar glass with a golf ball impression etched in the bottom.
First up, the Golfweek Fall Challenge at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club (SC) was won by Emma Bunch [New Mexico State], her 6th victory in her last 7 starts stretching back to last season! It was also a special victory for Campbell and Coach John Crooks who joined Duke’s Coach Dan Brooks as members of the 100 win club in women’s college golf. On the men’s side, the Arkansas State Red Wolves led wire-to-wire while Patton Samuels, playing in his first tournament for Austin Peay State, became the first Governor to earn medalist honors since 2014.
9. GOLFWEEK OCTOBER CLASSIC [Oct 13-15, 2024]
The next month, Golfweek played host again to a pair of tournaments in Destin (FL). The men played at Raven GC with Washington & Lee taking home the team victory. They had two of the three co-medalists - Elias Malakoff and Jonathan McEwen - who, along with Carnegie Mellon’s Justin Chan, earned some glass hardware.
The women played at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. Washington-St Louis Coach Dave Reinhardt told Golfweek his team’s victory was “…my most rewarding in four years as head coach” when they overcame an 8 stroke deficit to win by 4. Emory’s Zimo Li earned a 4 stroke victory, the first of her young freshman career.
We will definitely be doing more posts on college golf trophies! Let me know what suggestions you have on trophies to highlight.