top

Arnold Palmer Cup will see college golfers’ clash move to Bay Hill from Lahinch

The 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup is moving from Ireland’s Lahinch to Florida’s Bay Hill Club – which staged the first ever match between the top USA and GB&I college players in 1997

The Arnold Palmer Cup will now be played in December after being swtiched from Lahinch to Bay Hill Club, in Florida, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Picture by PETER LOCKLE

THE Arnold Palmer Cup – the annual match between the best American and international college golfers – is the latest casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup was originally scheduled to be played at Lahinch GC, in Ireland, from July 3-5.

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak sweeping across the USA and Europe, it will be rescheduled to take place at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, on December 21-23, 2020.

The matches will return to the PGA Tour venue at Bay Hill, host of the inaugural playing of the Arnold Palmer Cup in 1997.

2016 Carris Trophy winner Angus Flanagan from Surrey’s St George’s Hill Golf Club

Surrey’s Angus Flanagan winner of the Carris Trophy in 2016. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

Surrey’s former Carris Trophy winner Angus Flanagan, from St George’s Hill, who is in his third year at University of Minnesota, is one of two English players who will now play at Bay Hill, just before Christmas.

The other is Hallamshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick, the younger brother of European Tour winner Matt Fitzpatrick, who played in last year’s Walker Cup defeat for Great Britain and Ireland against the USA, and is at Wake Forest.

The two teams were selected – using the Arnold Palmer Cup rankings based on US college results and picks by each selection committee and the two sets of coaches.

Three Irish players have been denied the chance to play on home soil at Lahinch – Arizona State’s Olivia Mehaffey, Wake Forest’s Mark Power, and Maynooth University’s Caolan Rafferty.

The University of Washington’s Alan Murray is the head coach of the men’s team, who was looking forward to leading the Internationals in the Irishman’s homeland.

Maynooth’s Barry Fennelly is Murray’s assistant coach, while Mehaffey’s team-mates are being led by University of Virginia’s Ria Quiazon-Scott, from the Philippines.

Lahinch Golf Club – which hosted last year’s Home Internationals which was won by defending champions England – will now host the Arnold Palmer Cup in 2024.

Amy Palmer-Saunders – the daughter of legend Arnold Palmer – said in an online statement. “Mindful of the difficult and challenging time for everyone coping with the effects of this pandemic, it is hoped that rescheduling to December will allow the matches to be played in 2020.

“The guidance of leading public health authorities will dictate any further changes to the schedule, with this competition only taking place if it is safe and responsible to do so.”

Palmer’s daughter Amy added: “We look forward to welcoming the top men and women collegiate golfers to Bay Hill.

“My father would have wanted to find a way to honor their excellence in these unprecedented times and hosting the rescheduled Arnold Palmer Cup at Bay Hill will be a fitting way to do so.

“While we are disappointed not to visit Lahinch this summer, we are thrilled that Lahinch has agreed to host in 2024.

“The Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation, which carries on the legacy of my parent’s philanthropic initiatives, and conducts the Arnold Palmer Cup with the GCAA, WGCA and foundation partners Rolex and Nike, is so appreciative of their support during these trying times, as well as The R&A and USGA.

“We are also especially grateful for our collaboration with Lahinch Golf Club, its members and the Lahinch community, and their collective support for the Arnold Palmer Cup. We anticipate a wonderful Palmer Cup in 2024.”

Lahinch Golf Club will now host the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup

Lahinch will become the third Repubic of Ireland course to stage the Arnold Palmer Cup

Lahinch follows great Irish hosts

LAHINCH Golf Club is fully committed to staging the Arnold Palmer Cup in 2024 when it returns to Europe.

Padraig McInerney, tournament director at Lahinch Golf Club, said: “The postponement of this year’s Arnold Palmer Cup is perfectly understandable amid this current pandemic.

“While it is a great disappointment for Lahinch Golf Club, its members and the entire local community, we remain fully committed to the event – and the wonderful concept of honouring young, talented golfers and, in doing so, providing them with the opportunity to experience international competition over some of the world’s great courses.

“We offer our congratulations to those honoured with selection in 2020 and look forward to continuing our relationship with the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation, college golf and to hosting the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup.”

Lahinch Golf Club was founded in 1892 and is consistently ranked in the top 50 golf courses in the world.

Originally laid out by Old Tom Morris, Dr Alister MacKenzie was retained in 1926 to redesign the course.

MacKenzie declared: “Lahinch will make the finest and most popular golf course that I, or I believe anyone else, ever constructed.”

Lahinch will become the third course in the Republic of Ireland to host the tournament after Doonbeg, in County Clare, in 2002, and Ballybunion, in 2004.

Bay Hill is renowned as the winter home of Arnold Palmer, combining world-class golf in an exclusive club setting.

The par 72, 7,381-yard Championship course sweeps across 270 acres along the shores of the Butler Chain of Lakes.

Since 1979, Bay Hill has been home to the Arnold Palmer Invitational – one of the most popular tournaments on the PGA Tour.

Arnold Palmer Cup alumni Francesco Molinari (2019) and Matt Every (2014-15) have claimed victory at Arnie’s tournament.

Bay Hill Club’s 18th hole

The 18th hole at Bay Hill has seen plenty of drama in the Arnold Palmer Invitational

How the Arnold Palmer Cup evolved

THE Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).

It began at Orlando’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge in 1997.

The event is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men’s and women’s university/ college golfers matching the United States against a team of international players.

The Arnold Palmer Cup has been played at some of the world’s greatest courses including St Andrews’ Old Course, Whistling Straits, which is set to the Ryder Cup in September, Royal Liverpool’s Hoylake, Baltusrol, The Honors Course, and Cherry Hills.

The United States leads the series with 12 wins to 10 – just one of the 13 matches has been tied.

The 2018 matches at Evian Resort Golf Club, the French club which hosts the LPGA Major annually, became the only major tournament which features men and women playing side-by-side as partners.

And in 2019 the event became truly global with the Americans taking on an International team for the first time.

The Internationals claimed 13 of the 24 points in the Sunday singles matches at The Alotian Club, in Arkansas to become the first visiting team to win on US soil since 2009.

The first six editions of the Arnold Palmer Cup were played between the USA and Great Britain Ireland, before it became a European team in 2003 for the match at Kiawah Island, with the visitors winning at the the 1991 Ryder Cup venue in a reverse of the professionals’ match’s outcome.

The USA won at Royal Portrush, in Northern Ireland, in 2010, with the Europeans gaining the upper hand at Royal County Down, another superb course in the six counties, two years’ later.

The hosts also won when the Arnold Palmer Cup was played at Walton Heath – another Ryder Cup venue – in 2014, and Formby GC, in Lancashire, in 2016.

The winning Intenational team at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup

The winning International team at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup with former US president Bill Clinton at the Alotian Golf Club, in Arkansas.

Arnold Palmer Cup’s famous alumni

SINCE its inception, more than 100 Arnold Palmer Cup alumni have gone on to earn cards on either the PGA Tour, European Tour or LPGA.

Twenty-nine have represented Europe or the USA in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, and more than 60 have claimed in excess of 240 victories on the PGA or European Tours.

Among the Europeans to feature were Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald, Jon Rahm, Andrea Pavan, Alex Noren, Alejandro Canizares, Joost Luiten, Jorge Campillo, Justin Walters, Paul Dunne, Richard Ramsay, Scott Jamieson, Thomas Pieters and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who won the Puerto Rico Open in February.

Hovland played in the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup alongside Hampshire’s Harry Ellis, who went on to claim the Amateur Championship two weeks later.

Surrey’s Ben Taylor, who graduated from the Korn Ferry to earn his PGA Tour card for 2020, played in 2013, while Woburn’s Steve Lewton, who is on the Korn Ferry Tour this season after coming through its Q-school, played back in 2006 at Prestwick, when a European team won 191/2-41/2.

The American teams have featured Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Bryson DeChambeau, J B Holmes, Matt Kuchar, Patrick Cantlay, Brandt Snedeker, Ryan Moore, Lucas Glover, Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan, Ben Curtis, and Nick Watney.

The Arnold Palmer Cup is supported by Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation.

It provides a platform for perpetuating the legend – who won seven Majors – and his commitment to youth development plus the growth of amateur and collegiate golf. 

For more information visit ArnoldPalmerCup.com

Related Articles

, , , , , , , ,

Designed & Managed by Windrush Group - Oxford