Jimmy Stanger Named to U.S. Palmer Cup Team

March 16, 2017

Charlottesville, Va. – Virginia senior golfer Jimmy Stanger (Tampa, Fla.) has been named to the 2017 United States Arnold Palmer Cup team. The announcement was made today at the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. The annual Ryder Cup-style competition, which pits U.S. collegiate players against a squad from Europe, will be played June 9-11 at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Stanger is the second UVA player picked for the Palmer Cup. Classmate Derek Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.) was selected for the 2016 U.S. team.

Stanger is currently ranked the No. 22 amateur in the world by the World Amateur Golf Rankings. He leads the Cavaliers with a 69.67 stroke average. He has four top-10 finishes in five collegiate events this year including a win at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate. Last summer he won the Southern Amateur Championship and reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur Championships. He is one of the players on the watch list for the 2017 Ben Hogan Award.

The five other players named to the United States team based on the Palmer Cup rankings were Sam Burns of LSU, Texas A&M’s Chandler Phillips, Collin Morikawa of California, Stanford’s Maverick McNealy and Oregon’s Norman Xiong. The top six players in the Palmer Cup rankings receive an automatic invitation to the team.

The team was rounded out by four at-large selections. John Coultas of Florida Southern, USC’s Sean Crocker and Illinois’ Nick Hardy were committee selections. Coultas was the designated non-Division I player. Doug Ghim of Texas was John Fields’ coach’s pick.

Texas Tech and Sweden’s Hannes Ronneblad and Fredrik Nilehn, Kristoffer Ventura of Oklahoma State (Norway), Jacksonville’s David Wicks (England) Harry Ellis of Florida State (England) and Missouri’s Rory Fransson (Scotland) qualified for Team Europe by finishing in the top six of the Arnold Palmer Cup Player Ranking.

Committee selections were Maynooth’s Stuart Grehan (Ireland) and Viktor Hovland of Oklahoma State (Norway). Richard Mansell of Nova Southeastern (England) was David Inglis’ coach’s pick. The final member of the team will be the winner of The R&A Foundation Scholars Tournament, which will be contested April 3-4.

Grehan is the only returning member from Europe’s victorious squad last season. Wicks is the first Arnold Palmer Cup participant from Jacksonville while Fransson is the first representative from Missouri. Team Europe represents only five countries in 2017, the fewest since 2011.

United States Team

Arnold Palmer Cup Ranking Selections
Sam Burns, LSU
Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M
Collin Morikawa, California
Jimmy Stanger, Virginia
Maverick McNealy Stanford
Norman Xiong, Oregon

Committee Selections
John Coultas, Florida Southern
Sean Crocker, Southern California
Nick Hardy, Illinois

Coach’s Pick
Doug Ghim, Texas

Coaches
Head Coach – John Fields, Texas
Assistant Coach – Andrew DiBitetto, North Carolina

European Team

Arnold Palmer Cup Ranking Selections
Hannes Ronneblad, Texas Tech – Sweden
Fredrik Nilehn, Texas Tech – Sweden
Kristoffer Ventura, Oklahoma State – Norway
David Wicks, Jacksonville – England
Harry Elllis, Florida State – England
Rory Franssen, Missouri ÃÆ’¢Ãƒ¢’¬” Scotland

Committee Selections
Stuart Grehan, Maynooth – Ireland
Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State – Norway

Coach’s Pick
Richard Mansell, Nova Southeastern – England

Coaches
Head Coach – David Inglis, Northwestern – Scotland
Assistant Coach – Alan Murray, Washington – Ireland