Lahinch Golf Club determined to put on a show for Arnold Palmer Cup

MAGICAL: USA player Michael La Sasso pictured during the 1st days practice ahead of this weekends Arnold Palmer Cup in Lahinch Golf Club, Clare. Pic. Brian Arthur

Lahinch Golf Club is determined to put its best foot forward and provide an experience for some of the world’s best amateur golfers they will treasure at this weekend’s Arnold Palmer Cup.

The prestigious annual Ryder Cup-style matches between Team USA and Team International begins at the historic Co. Clare links on Friday with the three-day competition boasting a glittering array of male and female elite golfers, spearheaded on the American side by men’s world number one Gordon Sargent.

Four Irish golfers will be on the 24-player International team, with the University of Louisville and Royal Dublin’s Max Kennedy and Miami’s Sara Byrne from Douglas as well as two University of Maynooth students, Ryan Griffin and Kate Lanigan with a further home flavour provided by one of the Internationals’ head coaches Barry Fennelly, manager of the Paddy Harrington Scholarship programme at Maynooth, and Corkman Aaron O’Callaghan, a coach at Arnold Palmer’s alumnus Wake Forest University.

The competitors arrived in Lahinch on Tuesday, and will play in a Palmer Cup Am-Am on Thursday before the three days of competition gets underway on Friday and Lahinch Golf Club chairperson John Gleeson hopes both the famous links, its spectacular setting and the hospitality provided will make the 2024 edition an unforgettable one for the players.

“The purists will like a bit of wind and rain but a little bit of sunshine can go a long way and whatever the weather we at Lahinch are putting our best foot forward with the course and everything to cater for the players,” said Gleeson.

“We hope they will go away saying Lahinch was not just a wonderful golf course but a wonderful place. We want to create a memory for these Palmer Cup players, let’s put it that way.”

Brendan Valdes of Team USA pictured during the 1st days pracice ahead of this weekends Arnold Palmer Cup in Lahinch Golf Club, Clare. Pic. Brian Arthur

Lahinch is the fifth Irish course to stage the event, which started out in 1997 as purely a men’s event, following in the footsteps of Doonbeg, Ballybunion, Royal Portrush and Royal County Down. Gleeson said he wanted to make this year’s staging a celebration of amateur golf.

“The history of Lahinch has really been amateur golf and that changed with the successful staging of the Irish Open in 2019 but not withstanding that, the history has been amateur golf, amateur golf, amateur golf, back to all of the South of Irelands and (11-time winner) John Burke and the Home Internationals (twice). That’s what Lahinch is all about, so have to the Palmer Cup is a really big thing for Lahinch.

“To have a Palmer Cup that has gained in prominence over the past 20 years, and which now includes the girls as well as the boys, it’s a celebration of amateur golf and that adds significantly to the attraction.”

The quality of the teams suggests it will be exactly as Lahinch hope for with Sargent and fellow American Preston Summerhays inside the top 10 of the World Amateur Golf men’s rankings while compatriot Melanie Green became the first US golfer in 28 years to win the R&A’s Women’s Amateur when she triumphed at Portmarnock last weekend.

Spain’s Julia Lopez Ramirez is women’s world number four with International team-mate Wenyi Ding of China the men’s world number five as the two sides all bid to follow predecessors such as Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay and use the Palmer Cup as a springboard to successful professional careers.

“Last month’s (men’s) US Open had five former Palmer Cup players in it and I think there were three in the women’s US Open so these are a different grade of amateur golfers,” Gleeson said.

“Gordon Sargent is the world number one and is tipped for the very top and to have him here with Team USA is absolutely brilliant. But a lot players on both teams are destined for high achievement in the pro game and that means quite a bit to us.

“The course looks absolutely fantastic, the definition is fantastic and I think all of these players will remember playing in Lahinch. A lot of the Americans won’t have seen anything like this before and boy will they have a great time.

"We’re really looking forward to the players enjoying it and the competitive atmosphere as well. We hope they go away saying ‘wasn’t Lahinch a magical experience’.”