April 22, 2013
NORMAN, Okla. - Cal golfers Joël Stalter and Michael Weaver have been named to represent their respective Palmer Cup teams announced Monday live on Golf Channel's Morning Drive. The 2013 Palmer Cup will be held June 7-9 at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Del. The event features two teams of 10 collegiate players each from the United States and Europe facing each other in a match-play style format reminiscent of the Ryder Cup.
"This is a great day for our program and certainly a wonderful day for our three players selected," Cal head coach Steve Desimone said. "It's continued recognition of how well this team has played all year and the great play that all three of these players have produced throughout the season leading to us being the No. 1 team in the country. I'm really excited for the event. It's a dream come true to represent your country."
All three Cal players selected finished among the top six in the final Palmer Cup Ranking also released Monday. The top six players for both Team USA and Team Europe in the Palmer Cup Ranking, which is in its first season of existence, automatically qualified for the Palmer Cup. Kim was the No. 1 ranked player for Team USA, while Stalter (Team Europe) and Weaver (Team USA) were both No. 6 for their respective squads. Brandon Hagy and Max Homa were also ranked on the Team USA list at No. 14 and No. 17, respectively.
Kim is the nation's No. 1 player in the latest rankings released by both Golfweek and Golfstat. He has been an individual medalist a school-record four times in 2012-13 and finished in the top 10 in all but one of his 11 regular-season events, with his lowest finish a tie for 11th. In addition to outright victories at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational and Fresno State Lexus Classic, he shared a win with Stalter at the Arizona Intercollegiate and made it into a four-way playoff at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters before falling in the playoff. Kim is also a national semifinalist for The Ben Hogan Award, has been the Pac-12 Player of the Month twice (October 2012, March 2013), captured a Golfweek Player of the Week honor (February 4, 2013) and is the top candidate on the Haskins Award Watch List given annually to the nation's top collegiate player by Golfweek. In addition to leading the nation with a 69.88 stroke average, Kim paces the country in birdies (129), sand saves percentage (78.9%) and short game percentage (73.6%).
"It's an honor to represent the USA in the Palmer Cup," Kim said. "I'm really excited and looking forward to it. Having Michael and Joël there makes it even better."
Stalter is the nation's No. 12 ranked golfer according to both Golfweek and Golfstat. He has won two collegiate events in 2012-13, sharing the Arizona Intercollegiate title with Kim and winning outright at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, and has five top-10 finishes and a 70.70 stroke average over nine events. He is also No. 9 on the latest Haskins Award watch list and was Golfweek's Player of the Week after his Burns win.
"It's a dream come true," Stalter said. "Since I was little I have always aspired to make a European selection. It feels really special and motivates me to keep up with the hard work I have put in since I first came to Cal. I'm also really happy for my Cal teammates who made the United States team. It will be fun to compete against my friends in Delaware."
Weaver became the first current Cal golfer to ever play in the Masters when he participated in the 2013 event and had the second-best showing of six amateurs at Augusta. He also has an exemption at the 2013 U.S. Open, picking up both the Masters invitation and the U.S. Open exemption by finishing as the runner-up at the 2012 U.S. Amateur. Weaver is currently ranked No. 22 nationally among all collegiate golfers according to Golfweek, while Golfstat has him tied for No. 26. He has five top-10 finishes and a 71.56 stroke average in 27 rounds over nine collegiate events in 2012-13. Weaver missed the last two events of the regular season (ASU Thunderbird Invitational, Western Intercollegiate) to prepare for and play in the Masters but is expected to return to the team's lineup for the Pac-12 Championship.
"I'm really excited to make the Palmer Cup team," Weaver said. "I have never represented the United States in competition, and I am really looking forward to the experience. It will be fun being there with my two Cal teammates as well."
Using Golfstat's NCAA Player Ranking as a base, the Palmer Cup Ranking awards bonus points for wins and high finishes and a negative bonus for poor finishes. The ranking also contains a strength of schedule component. Kim checked in with a 1.000 percentage, while Weaver was at .9887, Stalter at .9743, Hagy at .9791 and Homa at .9719.
"It is somewhat bittersweet in that Brandon Hagy and Max Homa were not selected," Desimone said. "We have five great players that have put us in the position we're in as the No. 1 team in the country. All five of them were certainly under consideration for the Palmer Cup, and I don't think anybody would have argued any of them being selected. I'm proud of all of these guys."
Walter Chun was an assistant coach for Team USA in 2009.
For more information on the event named after golfing legend Arnold Palmer visit PalmerCup.org.
Cal has won a school-record nine tournaments in 11 events in 2012-13, which is one shy of the unofficial NCAA record of 10 set by Oklahoma State in 1985-86. The Golden Bears have been dominant winning by a combined total of 135 strokes in their nine victories and posting a 149-3-1 record against all opponents in their tournament fields. Cal has also won 15 of its last 25 events overall dating back to the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign and finished in the top five in all 25.
Cal returns to action April 29 - May 1 at the Pac-12 Championship to be played at the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club. Cal is the event's defending champion after winning its first Pac-12 title ever in 2011-12.
