April 22, 2013
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andy Seeley
UCFAthletics.com
The Palmer Cup teams for both the United States and Europe were announced today, with UCF's Greg Eason representing Team Europe. The annual Ryder Cup-style competition will be played June 7-9 at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Del.
Eason, Julien Brun of TCU (France), Iowa State's Scott Fernandez (Spain), Pedro Figueiredo (Portugal) and Pontus Widegren (Sweden) of UCLA, and California's Joel Stalter (France) were the six European players selected by the Palmer Cup Ranking. Kevin Phelan (Ireland) of North Florida and Nova Southeastern's Ben Taylor (England) were committee selections. Gary Hurley of NIU Maynooth (Ireland) qualified for Team Europe by winning The R&A Foundation Scholars' Tournament. Arkansas' Sebastian Cappelen was coach Andrew Coltart's coach's pick.
It's great. It was a goal of mine at the start of the year, Eason said of his chance to play in the Palmer Cup. It was sort of a far-fetched goal. I wasn't too sure to make it a serious one. But I started playing some good golf and it all seemed to come together. I noticed on the first list that came out, I was up there. It pushed me a bit more, to be fair. I'm really looking forward to going out there and playing with some good players.
Greg's Palmer Cup selection is an outstanding achievement, UCF head coach Bryce Wallor said. He has proven throughout our country, that he's one of the best players, period. Obviously, by this selection, he's one of the best international players. It will be great to have him represent himself, his family and UCF at the Palmer Cup. It's a big event. It carries a lot of pride with it. We're excited for him and it's something he's worked very hard for.
California's Michael Kim led the six U.S. players selected by the Palmer Cup Ranking. He was joined by North Florida's Sean Dale, Patrick Rodgers of Stanford, New Mexico's James Erkenbeck, Alabama's Cory Whitsett and Cal's Michael Weaver off the ranking. Committee selections were Daniel Berger of Florida State, Abilene Christian's Alex Carpenter and Alabama's Justin Thomas. Bobby Wyatt of Alabama was coach Jay Seawell's coach's pick.
Carpenter, Rodgers and Thomas have each previously represented the United States in the Palmer Cup. Widegren will become just the fourth golfer to play in four Palmer Cups while European teammates Cappelen and Brun are competing in their third and second, respectively. Figueiredo is the first player from Portugal to play in the event while Dale, Phelan, Eason and Fernandez were the first golfers from their schools selected.