Palmer Cup matches begin Friday for Sambach and James

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia. Virginia golfers Amanda Sambach (Pinehurst, N.C.) and Ben James (Milford, Conn.) begin play for the U.S. team on Friday in the 28th Arnold Palmer Cup Matches. This year's event is hosted by Lahinch Golf Club on the west coast of Ireland. This is the second consecutive year that both Cavaliers have played for the U.S. team in the Palmer Cup. They helped the U.S. team to a 32-28 victory over Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pa.

The three-day tournament is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the best male and female college golfers from the United States competing against a team of international players. The Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and began at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida, in 1997.

The Arnold Palmer Cup Champion is the team with the most points at the end of the four rounds. If the two teams are tied, the holder retains the Cup. The United States currently leads the all-time series at 14-12-1.

Palmer Cup Schedule
For tournament days (Friday-Sunday) the starting times and starting time intervals are as follows:

Friday July 5th
08:30 (No. 1 Tee): Four-Ball Matches

Saturday July 6th
08:30am (split tees): Foursomes
2:30pm (split tees): Mixed Foursomes

Sunday July 7th
07:30am (split tees): Singles
Closing Ceremony/Trophy Presentation
Please note: All times are Irish Standard Time

About Amanda Sambach

• Second Team All-American by the Womens Golf Coaches Association
• For the third year in a row, she has won All-America honors
  Led the Cavaliers with a 71.45 batting average
• Ranked No. 11 in the NCAA individual standings
• Had seven top-10 performances in 11 tournaments total
• Won Toledos Glass City Invitational for fourth career victory
• Led UVA in scoring at the ACC Championships, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships, in addition to five regular season tournaments
  Was named All-ACC player for the third straight season.
• One of the 10 finalists for the ANNIKA Award 2024, awarded to the best female golfer in the country
• Competed at the Augusta National Womens Amateur for the fourth consecutive year and finished 14th for the second straight year.

About Ben James

• PING First Team All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America
• Finished second at the NCAA Championships, his second consecutive top 10 finish at the event
• At the NCAAs he shot 2-under 286, finishing one stroke behind the national champion
• His finish was the best ever by a UVA competitor in stroke play at the NCAAs
  Had seven top-10 performances in 11 tournament participations
• Led UVA with a 70.31 stroke average, with 23 of 34 rounds at par or better
• Helped Virginia to a second-place finish at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, the best regional finish in program history
• Cavaliers finished third in stroke play at the NCAA Championships, also a program best
• UVA reached the match play portion of the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row
  James recently competed in the USGAs US Open and the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he finished tied for 44th with -8

Palmer Cup History
James is the third Cavalier player to compete in the Palmer Cup. Jimmy Stanger was named to the U.S. team in 2017. Derek Bard became the first Cavalier to compete in the event in 2016. Sambach became the first participant from the UVA women’s golf program last year. Virginia Women’s head coach Ria Scott led the International team to victory in 2020 and was an assistant coach for the International team in 2019.

More about the Palmer Cup
The Palmer Cup has been played on some of the world’s best courses, including The Old Course at St Andrews, The Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Baltusrol, The Honors Course and Cherry Hills. Since its launch in 2018 at Evian Resort Golf Club, the Palmer Cup has become the only major tournament where men and women play alongside each other as partners.

Since its inception, more than 125 former Arnold Palmer Cup alumni have earned cards on the PGA, DP World or LPGA Tours; 34 have represented Europe or the U.S. in the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup or Solheim Cup, and more than 75 have amassed more than 315 victories on the PGA, DP World or LPGA Tours, including 2022 major champions Jennifer Kupcho (The Chevron Championship) and Justin Thomas (PGA Championship). The United States leads the Palmer Cup series 13-12-1.

The Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation supports the Palmer Cup, which provides a platform to continue Arnold Palmer’s dedication to youth character development and the growth of amateur/college golf. For more information, visit ArnoldPalmerCup.com.

American team
Zoe Campos (UCLA), Anna Davis (Auburn), Maisie Filler (Florida), David Ford (North Carolina), Maxwell Ford (North Carolina), Ian Gilligan (Florida), Melanie Green (South Florida), Ben James (Virginia), Jackson Klutznik (Emory), Jackson Koivun (Auburn), Rachel Kuehn (Wake Forest), Michael La Sasso (Ole Miss), Jack Lundin (Missouri), Anna Morgan (Furman), Mary Kelly Mulcahy (Findlay), Farah OKeefe (Texas), Catherine Park (USC), Kiara Romero (Oregon), Amanda Sambach (Virginia), Gordon Sargent (Vanderbilt), Latanna Stone (LSU), Preston Summerhays (Arizona State), Brendan Valdes (Auburn), Jackson Van Paris (Vanderbilt).

Formats

Mixed four-ball
12 Groups of teams of two people
Four Ball play is a competition in which each member of the two-person teams plays their own ball. There are four balls in play per hole, with each of the four players recording a score on the hole. The team whose player records the best score on that hole wins the hole. If players from each team tie for the best score, that hole is halved.

Mixed Foursomes/Foursomes
12 groups of teams of two people
Foursome play is a competition in which golfers play in teams against two other golfers, with each side playing one ball. The golfers alternate shots (player A tees off, player B tees off, etc.) until the hole is completed. Team members alternate playing tees, with one golfer teeing off on the odd-numbered holes and the other teeing off on the even-numbered holes. The team with the best score wins the hole. If the two teams tie for the best score, the hole is halved.

Individuals
24 groups of one-man teams
Singles is a match in which one player plays against another player. A player wins the match when he is ahead by more holes than there are holes left to play.