NCAA Golf News

Palmer Cup Going to Have Sparky All Over It July 5-7

Palmer Cup Going to Have Sparky All Over It July 5-7


Sun Devil Men’s Golf head coach Matt Thurmond is coaching Team USA at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup held July 5-7 at Lahinch Golf Club in Lahinch, Ireland.

He won’t be the only Sun Devil hanging out in Ireland. Arizona State, coming off a 2024 Pac-12 title, has the most selections by school with three. Preston Summerhays will be representing Team USA while Wenyi Ding and Josele Ballester will be competing for the international squad.

ABOUT THE PALMER CUP

The Ryder Cup style competition features the best men’s and women’s collegiate golfers against their international counterparts in an event that’s been played annually since 1997, with the addition of the women’s competition in 2018. Team USA leads the all-time series 14-12-1.

FRESHMAN WENYI DING TAP-INS

Sun Devil freshman Wenyi Ding — who earned both Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year — earned first-team PING All-America honors as announced by the GCAA. Ding and Auburn’s Jackson Koivun were the only freshman on the 11-man team, and he is just the fifth Sun Devil to earn first-team All-America in the past 17 seasons. He joins Preston Summerhays (2023), Chun An Yu (2019), Jon Rahm (2016 and 2015) and Max Rotluff (2015). He is the first Sun Devil freshman to earn first-team honors since Alejandro Canizares in 2003. He was the first Sun Devil to win both Pac-12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year and finished the year ranked third by Scoreboard/Clippd with a 69.56 stroke average. He notched six top-10 and four top-five finishes in eight tournaments, including a ridiculous victory at the Amer Ari Invitational in just his second event. He posted a 27-under 189 (63-64-62), the first collegiate golfer to break 190, and helped ASU to a trio of tournament titles this spring, including its first Pac-12 Championship  since 2008. He posted 12 rounds in the 60s and 16 of his 25 rounds were at par or better.

PRESTON SUMMERHAYS TAP-INS

Summerhays notched PING GCAA All-American third-team honors in 2023-24 after earning first-team All-America 2022-23. He started the year with a win in the 72-player field at the Sahalee Players Championship in September and also has won back-to-back ASU Thunderbird Collegiate titles in 2023 and 2024, to go with top-10 finishes this year at the National Invitational in Tucson and the Cabo Collegiate (third). His season-best was a 6-under 66 at the National Invitational in the first round on Jan. 29, 2024, while his career low is a 10-under 62 at…

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