Lahinch to host Arnold Palmer Cup
Lahinch Golf Club
Lahinch Golf Club will host the Arnold Palmer Cup from 5-7 July 2024.
The Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded in 1997 by Arnold Palmer and The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) with the inaugural event held at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando.
The event is a Ryder Cup style tournament that pits the top university/college golfers from the United States against an International Team.
The tournament is one of the world’s leading amateur events and is unique in that it features men and women playing side-by-side as partners.
Numerous former Arnold Palmer Cup alumni have gone on to earn cards on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LPGA Tour while many have represented Europe or the USA in the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and Solheim Cup including Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Lucas Glover, Webb Simpson, Ben Curtis, Bryson DeChambeau, Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler, J.B. Holmes, Billy Horschel, Matt Kuchar, Francesco Molinari, Alex Norén, Brandt Snedeker, Jon Rahm, Victor Hovland, Colin Morikawa, Brian Harman, Ludvig Aberg, Vincent Norrman, Allisen Corpuz, Linn Grant and Rose Zhang.
The Arnold Palmer Cup is organised by the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation (https://palmerfoundation.org/) with the tournament providing a platform for perpetuating Arnold Palmer’s commitment to youth development and to the growth of amateur/collegiate golf.
In 2018, the Arnold Palmer Cup expanded further to include the leading women collegiate golfers and the European team widened its brief to facilitate collegiate golfers from around the world.
Both teams were selected towards the end of April and most of the top amateur players in the world will be at Lahinch in a few weeks’ time including 6 of the top 10 world ranking amateur men, four members of last year’s successful USA Walker Cup team and 4 of the top 10 world ranking amateur women.
In total, 19 of the world’s top 50 amateur male golfers and 19 of the world’s top 50 amateur women golfers have been selected.
John Gleeson, Chairperson of Lahinch Golf Club said; “We are delighted to welcome some of the best amateur golfers in the world to Lahinch Golf Club to take part in this prestigious tournament. Lahinch has a proven track record of hosting major tournaments, and we expect a super few days of top-class golf on our famous Links.
“The next generation of elite golfers will be in Lahinch during the first week of July and it promises to be a fantastic few days”.
The tournament was due to be held at the Club in 2020 but due to the onset of the worldwide pandemic, hosting this prestigious tournament was not possible and it was agreed to postpone the hosting of the tournament until 2024.
The following coaches and players were selected to compete at this year’s Arnold Palmer Cup:
USA TEAM
Head Coaches: Garrett Runion (LSU) and Matt Thurmond (Arizona State); Assistant Coaches: Dudley Hart (Florida) and Alexis Rather (LSU)
Players: Zoe Campos (UCLA), Maxwell Ford (North Carolina State), Maisie Filler (Florida), David Ford (North Carolina), Megha Ganne (Stanford), Ian Gilligan (Florida), Melanie Green (USF), Ben James (Virginia), Jackson Koivun (Auburn), Rachel Kuehn (Wake Forest), Michael La Sasso (Ole Miss), Jack Lundin (Missouri), Anna Morgan (Furman), Farah O’Keefe (Texas), Catherine Park (Southern California), Kiara Romero (Oregon), Amanda Sambach (Virginia), Gordon Sargent (Vanderbilt), Preston Summerhays (Arizona State), Brendan Valdes (Auburn), Mary Kelly Mulcahy (Findlay), Jackson Klutznick (Emory), Jackson Van Paris (Vanderbilt) and Latanna Stone (LSU).
INTERNATIONAL TEAM
Head Coaches; Barry Fennelly (Maynooth, Ireland) and Rhyll Brinsmead (Minnesota & Australia); Assistant Coaches: Aaron O’Callaghan (Wake Forrest) and Stew Burke (Kansas State)
Players: Bastien Amat (New Mexico; France), Josele Ballester (Arizona State; Spain), Carla Bernat (Kansas State; Spain), Emma Bunch (New Mexico State; Denmark), Adela Cernousek (Texas A&M; France), Hannah Darling (South Carolina; Scotland), Santiago de la Fuente (Houston; Mexico), Wenyi Ding (Arizona State; China), Maria José Marin (Arkansas; Colombia), Max Kennedy (Louisville; Ireland), Julia Lopez Ramirez (Mississippi State; Spain), Caitlyn Macnab (Ole Miss; South Africa), Paula Martín Sampedro (Stanford; Spain), Omar Morales (UCLA, Mexico), Jacob Skov Olesen (Arkansas; Denmark), Louise Rydqvist (South Carolina; Sweden), Calum Scott (Texas Tech; Scotland), Mirabel Ting (Florida State; Malaysia), Ben van Wyk (Georgia; South Africa), Phichaksn Maichon (Texas A&M; Thailand), Ryan Griffin (Maynooth; Ireland), Kate Lanigan (Maynooth; Ireland), Sara Byrne (Miami; Ireland) and Filip Jakubcik (Arizona; Czech Republic).