Irish fans urged to support homegrown quartet at Palmer Cup
Max Kennedy tees off during day two of The Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin Golf Club
Irish golf fans are being urged to come out in force and support the homegrown quartet on the International team to face the USA in the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup, which gets underway at Lahinch’s Old Course on Friday.
The three-day team matchplay event for the best collegiate golfers in American universities was founded in 1997 and has since broadened from a US v GB & Ireland men’s event to a mixed USA v Internationals tournament, with 24 golfers on each side, starting with Friday’s dozen mixed fourball matches.
Ireland’s top-ranked amateur golfer, world number 35 Max Kennedy, from Royal Dublin and the University of Louisville, leads the Irish contingent while Maynooth University golfers Ryan Griffin and Kate Lanigan qualified for the International team through the elite European college circuit, the R&A Student Tour series, by topping their orders of merit. Douglas golfer Sara Byrne, the 2023 Irish Women’s Amateur Close champion, was the women’s coach Rhyll Brinsmead’s pick following a stellar final year at the University of Miami.
Both teams are stacked with WAGR top 50 players, with five of the top 10 women and six of the men’s top 10, including numbers one and two Gordon Sargent and Jackson Koivun of Team USA. The field also has newly minted men’s and women’s R&A Amateur champions, Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark and American Melanie Green, who triumphed on the past two consecutive weekends at Ballyliffin and Portmarnock respectively.
International captain and men’s head coach Barry Fennelly is the manager of Maynooth’s golf and Paddy Harrington Scholarship programme and believes the Arnold Palmer Cup is unique opportunity for Irish golf lovers to take advantage of free admission this weekend and see the professional game’s future starts in the flesh.
“It’s massive honour to have the Palmer Cup coming to Ireland and having four players competing is just a brilliant testament to where we’re at,” Fennelly said.
“It’s the first time it’s come to Ireland in the new format, both as a mixed event and in terms of USA v International and it’s huge for Irish golf. And having so many Irish players is a testament to how good college golf is now. Guys who have played this competition are on the PGA Tour now, and from a spectacle point of view, for young, aspiring Irish golf and amateur golf supporters this is an opportunity to get up and close to future stars, there’s no question.
“On the American side you’ve got the top players in amateur golf, world number one Gordon Sargent and on the women’s side too, so it’s not to be missed. This doesn’t come around too often and with it becoming more international and with the Palmer Foundation even more involved as I understand it, it’s going to spread its wings and become a global tournament.
“So what an opportunity to see these players up close and get behind their own Irish players. It’s something us as coaches are really keen to see. Having some home support is massive.
“I’m hopeful we get a lot of home support and we see a lot of young people out and that they get inspired by these players. I think High Performance breeds participation and if they’re young girls who are inspired by Sara or Kate or young guys watching Max or Ryan, or if they’re already good players and this spurs them on to get better, that’s huge and it shouldn’t go unnoticed.”
Founded by golfing great Arnold “The King” Palmer in 1997 to showcase the top collegiate golfing talent, it is an annual team matchplay tournament matching the United States with a team of international players. Since 2018, the teams have been mixed, with 12 men and 12 women on each side.
At Lahinch Golf Club, Co. Clare, from Friday to Sunday, July 5-7 Lahinch is the fifth Irish course to stage the Palmer Cup. Doonbeg (2002), Ballybunion (2004), Royal Portrush (2010) and Royal County Down (2012) were previous hosts of an event that is staged in the United States every other year.
Each of the 24 players takes part in all four sessions, starting with mixed fourballs on Friday, single-sex fourballs on Saturday followed by mixed foursomes in the afternoon before a final-day session of 24 singles matches.
Each match winner gains a point with a total of 60 points up for grabs, 36 of them available on the opening two days.
Mixed Four-Ball – 12 matches starting at 15-minute intervals from 8:30am (1st tee).
Foursomes - 12 matches starting 8:30-9:20am (split tees); Mixed Foursomes - 12 matches starting 2:30-3:20pm (split tees).
Singles – 24 matches starting 7:30-9:20am (split tees) Closing ceremony/trophy presentation approx. 30 minutes after play concludes.
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