June 5, 2013
WILMINGTON, Del. - Cal golfers Michael Kim, Joël Stalter and Michael Weaver will play at the Palmer Cup this Friday-Sunday 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. Kim and Weaver will play for Team USA, while Stalter is a member of Team Europe.
"The Palmer Cup is truly one of the outstanding events of the year," said head coach Steve Desimone. "It's a wonderful international competition matching the best of American and European players that play American college golf. It's always a fun and exciting event. There should be some tremendous competition, and I suspect it will run right down to the last day and the last few matches. The teams look very evenly matched. Maybe with some home cooking and on home soil we can bring home a victory for the U.S.A."
After an opening ceremony, college-am event and dinner with golfing legend and namesake Arnold Palmer on Thursday, the competition begins earnest Friday with five groups of fourball matches (best ball play) starting at 7:30 a.m. ET/4:30 a.m. PT. On Thursday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, there will be five groups of foursomes (alternate shot play).
There will be 10 singles matches on both Saturday and Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT.
Specific matchups have yet to be announced.
The week's activities began Wednesday with practice rounds, a team practice and the Palmer Cup Junior Clinic presented by WSFS Bank.
All three Cal players finished among the top six in the final Palmer Cup Ranking released last April, with the top six players for both Team USA and Team Europe in the Palmer Cup Ranking in its first season of existence in 2012-13 automatically qualifying 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, but were not named to Palmer Cup teams.
"I've never had the chance to represent the United States in any sort of team competition, so it will be a new and good experience," Weaver said. "There's a lot to be said for being in this position to represent our country."
"This tournament is fantastic and the venue is unbelievable," Stalter said. "I'm having a lot of fun with my Euro teammates. The chemistry is great and our coaches are awesome. It's a lot of fun to be around. It's going to be a great match."
Each of Cal's three Palmer Cup representatives played on Cal's 2012-13 team that ranked as the nation's No. 1 team in both the final Golfstat and Golfweek rankings released after the NCAA Championship despite a loss to Illinois in the match-play semifinals of the NCAA's. Cal won 12 of 14 stroke-play events during the campaign to set a modern-day NCAA record, including the 54-hole stroke-play portion of the NCAA Championship to enter match play as the top-seed, as well as the NCAA Pullman Regional and Pac-12 Championship team titles.
Peter Tomasulo is the only Cal golfer to have previously played in the Palmer Cup when he was a member of Team USA in 2003, while associate head coach Walter Chun was an assistant coach for Team USA in 2009.
For more information on the event visit PalmerCup.org.
