Two-time Colorado state high school champion Steve Ziegler will be among the eight U.S. players competing in the Palmer Cup, the Ryder Cup-style event for collegians that will be held at Cherry Hills Country Club June 3-5.
The American and European teams for the matches were announced Thursday.
Ziegler, a sophomore at Stanford who recently posted his first college victory, will be joined on the U.S. squad by Bud Cauley of Alabama, Morgan Hoffmann and Trent Leon of Oklahoma State, Jamie Lovemark of Southern Cal, Adam Mitchell of Georgia, Cameron Tringale of Georgia Tech and Mike Van Sickle of Marquette. Lovemark, the 2007 NCAA champion, and Mitchell will be making their second Palmer Cup appearances.
On the European squad will be Jorge Campillo of Indiana, Stephan Gross of Arizona State, Leonardo Motta of IULM Milan, Henrik Norlander of Augusta State, Chris Paisley and Robin Wingardh of Tennessee, Andrea Pavan of Texas A&M and Tim Sluiter of Southern Cal. The Spaniard Campillo will be playing in his third straight Palmer Cup and The Netherlands’ Sluiter his second consecutive.
Gross is the first German ever to be named to a Palmer Cup team. Motta and Pavan come from Italy, Paisley from England and Norlander and Wingardh from Sweden.
Ziegler won Class 5A Colorado high school championships in 2005 and 2006 while attending Legacy in Broomfield. He was an honorable mention pick in the Pac 10 Conference as a freshman at Stanford, but has become one of the best college players in the country during the spring portion of this season’s schedule. In Stanford’s four spring tournaments, Ziegler has posted four top-10 finishes, including his victory in the USC Invitational in February. He’s ranked among the nation’s top 10 collegians by both Golfweek magazine and Golfstat.
Speaking of collegiate rankings, on paper the U.S. team for the Palmer Cup appears the more impressive, with seven of the eight American players ranked in the top 20 in the country by Golfweek and/or Golfstat. Hoffmann and Cauley, both freshmen, are in the top 10, along with Ziegler, Tringale and Van Sickle.
Only one European player is ranked among the top 20 collegians in the nation — Campillo, who is No. 1 according to Golfstat and No. 2 according to Golfweek.
Three universities will have two players each competing at Cherry Hills. Oklahoma State’s Hoffmann and Leon will both play for the U.S., Tennessee’s Paisley and Wingardh will both play for the Europeans, and USC’s Lovemark and Sluiter will be on opposite teams.
Separate committees chose the U.S. and European team members.
Matt Thurmond of Washington will coach the U.S. team, and the European coach is scheduled to be announced next week. The U.S. leads the all-time series in the Palmer Cup 6-5-1.
The Palmer Cup will be the first major competition at Cherry Hills following the $7.6 million restoration project the course underwent in late 2008 and early 2009.
The general public can attend the Palmer Cup free of charge. Cherry Hills officials have said that Arnold Palmer, who won the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills, is expected to attend at least some of the Palmer Cup festivities.
