COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett will compete in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup as a part of Team USA, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced on Tuesday. The 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup will be contested at Rich Harvest Farms June 11-13 in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
Bennett, a junior from Madisonville, Texas, has been a dominant force through 2021 with a trio of tournament victories, a couple of Southeastern Conference Golfer of the Week honors and being named the National Golfer of the Month for March by the Ben Hogan Award. Additionally, Bennett was a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top collegiate golfer. He became the first Aggie to win three consecutive starts when he swept medalist honors at the Cabo Collegiate, Old Waverly Intercollegiate and the Aggie Invitational.
“It’s a dream come true to represent the United States and Texas A&M University in the Arnold Palmer Cup,” Bennett said. “It’s an honor to play in an event named for Arnold Palmer and against some of the best collegiate golfers in the world.” Bennett and the Aggies will learn their 2021 NCAA regional destination on the NCAA Golf Selection Show at 1 p.m. on Wednesday on Golf Channel.
Bennett joins a host of former male and female Texas A&M players that are Palmer Cup alumni: Andrea Pavan (Europe, 2010), Ignacio “Nacho” Elvira (Europe, 2011), Chandler Phillips (USA, 2017, 2018, 2019) and Maddie Szeryk (USA, 2018).
A total of 36 players were named, consisting of nine men and nine women per side. For 2021 only, all selections were committee picks, with the exception of the four coaches’ picks (one USA man, one USA woman, one International man, one International woman).
The United States team is led by a group of returners from the 2020 Palmer Cup in Julia Johnson (Ole Miss), Gina Kim (Duke), Emilia Migliaccio (Wake Forest), and Latanna Stone (LSU). Coaches pick Migliaccio will become the first American to play in four Palmer Cups.
They will be joined by Ricky Castillo (Florida), Pierceson Coody (Texas), Allisen Corpuz (Southern California), Rachel Kuehn (Wake Forest), Brooke Matthews (Arkansas), and Trent Phillips (Georgia) who were all selected on March 3.
Newcomers to the American side include Sam Bennett (Texas A&M), Jacob Bridgeman (Clemson), Nick Gabrelcik (North Florida), Ryan Hall (South Carolina), Hanna Harrison (Dallas Baptist), Lauren Hartlage (Louisville), Irene Kim (Northwestern), Dylan Menante (Pepperdine), William Moll (Vanderbilt), Trevor Norby (Oklahoma Christian), Brad Reeves (Arizona), Erica Shepherd (Duke), and Benjamin Shipp (NC State).
The International team is represented by 14 countries, including seven returners from last year’s victorious team in Puwit Anupansuebsai (San Diego State/Thailand), Alex Fitzpatrick (Wake Forest/England), Yuxin Lin (Florida/China), Ingrid Lindblad (LSU/Sweden), David Puig (Arizona State/Spain), Paulne Roussin-Bouchard (South Carolina/France), and Emma Spitz (UCLA/Austria). Agathe Laisne (Texas/France) also brings past Palmer Cup experience as she was part of the winning International side at The Alotian Club in 2019.
They will be joined by a group of newcomers that includes Eugenio Chacarra (Oklahoma State/Spain), Adrien Dumont de Chassart (Illinois/Belgium), Isabella Fierro (Oklahoma State/Mexico), Karen Fredgaard (Houston/Sweden), Allan Hill (Maynooth/Ireland), Bo Jin (Oklahoma State/China), Pontus Nyholm (Campbell/Sweden), Virunpat Olankitkunchai (Maryland/Thailand), Joseph Pagdin (Florida/England), Ana Pelaez Trivino (South Carolina/Spain), Julian Perico (Arkansas/Spain), Emily Price (Kent State/England), Hugo Townsend (Boise State/Sweden), Beatrice Wallin (Florida State/Sweden), and Lauren Walsh (Wake Forest/Ireland).
