By: By Brian Harper
KENNESAW, Ga. – On the same day that Jeff Karlsson won the individual medalist at the Atlantic Sun Championship, the junior from Gothenburg, Sweden was named to the Palmer Cup European roster. The event will take place June 9-11 at the Stanwich Club in Greenwich, CT.
“I am happy and relieved to have made the Palmer Cup,” Karlsson said. “I made it a goal of mine this season and focused hard on playing well in order to make it since not making it last season when I was in the selection process. It is an honor to represent Europe.”
Joining Karlsson and representing Team Europe will be Arkansas’ Sebastian Cappelen, Ignacio Elvira of Texas A&M, Texas Tech’s Nils Floren, Liberty’s Robert Karlsson, Nick MacAndrew of Aberdeen, Augusta State’s Henrik Norlander and UCLA’s Pontus Widegren.
Widegren went 3-1 at the 2010 Palmer Cup while Norlander was 2-2. Norlander also posted a 2-2 mark at the 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills and helped lead Europe to victory. Floren, Norlander, Widegren and both Jeff and Robert Karlsson hail from Sweden while Cappelen is a native of Denmark, Elvira is from Spain and MacAndrew is Scottish.
Rickard Lindberg of the Swedish Golf Federation will serve as head coach of the European team and Northwestern’s David Inglis will serve as his assistant. Inglis is the first former Palmer Cup player to serve as a coach in the event after representing Scotland in both 2001 and 2003.
“It’s a huge honor any time you get to represent your continent,” head coach Jay Moseley said. “He was disappointed last year when he didn’t make it, but it really helped motivate him. He deserves to be in that caliber and he will certainly represent Kennesaw State in an elite class. We are very proud of him.”
Team USA will consist of Blayne Barber of Auburn, UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay, Abilene Christian’s Alex Carpenter, Russell Henley of Georgia, Oregon’s Daniel Miernicki, Bank Vongvanij of Florida, Washington’s Chris Williams and Stanford’s Andrew Yun.
Both Henley and Miernicki were part of last year’s victories American squad at Royal Portrush with Henley posting a 3-1 record and Miernicki a 2-2 mark. The United States team will be lead by head coach Tim Poe of Central Missouri and assistant coach Michael Burcin of South Carolina.
The United States leads the Palmer Cup series 7-6-1 heading into the tournaments 15th season.
In 1997, the Golf Coaches Association of America approached Arnold Palmer regarding lending his name to an international collegiate event between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland. The event would use a Ryder Cup-style format and bring together the top eight collegiate players in the United States against their counterparts from GB&I. Palmer, a former collegiate player himself, has been called America’s greatest Ambassador for the game of golf. With his blessing and the support of the Arnold Palmer Golf Company, the inaugural event was played at his own Bay Hill Club in Florida in June 1997.
