ATLANTA, GEORGIA – On October 31, 2017 the East Lake Cup collegiate match play championship announced a charitable donation of $498,750 to the East Lake Foundation from behalf of Golf Channel, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (presenting sponsor) and associate sponsor CSX. To date, the East Lake Cup has donated nearly $1 million to the East Lake Foundation.
“We are very appreciative of the generous financial support we have received from the Golf Channel and the sponsors of the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club,” said Daniel Shoy, Jr., President of the East Lake Foundation. “This important funding helps sustain the progress made in the East Lake community over the past 22 years and ensures the Foundation can continue to effectively provide residents with the tools necessary to build a better life for themselves and future generations.”
The third annual East Lake Cup collegiate match play championship is taking place this week at historic East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga. The three-day event (Monday–Wednesday) features the eight semifinalists from the 2017 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s golf championships competing in an elite college match play championship, airing live on Golf Channel each day from 3-6 p.m. ET. Monday featured the individual stroke play championship, where USC’s Robynn Ree and Vanderbilt’s Will Gordon claimed stroke play honors.
Today’s East Lake Cup semifinal matches will mirror that of both the men’s and women’s NCAA Championships earlier this year: Women’s – Stanford (1) vs. Arizona State (4) and USC (2) vs. Northwestern (3); Men’s – Vanderbilt (1) vs. Oregon (4) and Oklahoma (2) vs. Illinois (3). Winners of today’s semifinal matches will advance to compete in the East Lake Cup championship matches on Wednesday (tomorrow), while teams failing to advance today will compete in tomorrow’s consolation matches.
The East Lake Cup also features the presentation of the Tom Cousins Award, an annual recognition of an outstanding male and female golfer who exemplify the values of the East Lake Cup Foundation: excelling in academics, engaging in his or her community and overcoming adversity. USC’s Divya Manthena and Vanderbilt’s Will Gordon were announced last night as the 2017 recipients of the Tom Cousins Award.
Founded in 1995 by developer and philanthropist Tom Cousins, the East Lake Foundation collaborates with public and private organizations to provide tools that enable Atlanta’s East Lake residents to build a better future through its holistic model for community revitalization. The East Lake model includes cradle-to-college education at Charles R. Drew Charter School and its early learning partners, mixed-income housing at The Villages of East Lake and community wellness through programs including The First Tee® of East Lake, the Resident and Community Support Program, Start ME: East Lake micro-entrepreneur program and East Lake Healthy Connections. This approach to building a strong community not only helps break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, but creates a place where people of all ages and incomes choose to live. East Lake has become a national model for holistic community redevelopment across the country through Purpose Built Communities.