Once again the United States was staked to a big lead heading into final-round singles at the Palmer Cup. This time, the Americans didn’t back down.
With an eight-point lead and only 10 singles matches to be played, the U.S. powered ahead en route to a 20 ½-9 ½ victory to reclaim the Palmer Cup – a Ryder Cup-style event between college players from the U.S. and Europe – at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club.
Last year, at Royal County Down, Team Europe was trailing 10-6 heading into singles, only to reel off 7 ½ of eight available points to stun the Americans and capture the cup.
The Alabama trio of Justin Thomas, Cory Whitsett and Bobby Wyatt went 9-0-3 in the Palmer Cup, just a few days after helping lead the Crimson Tide to the NCAA Championship. There, they combined to go 7-1-1 in match play.
The U.S. now leads the all-time Palmer Cup series, 9-7-1.
Singles results:
Bobby Wyatt (USA) halved Kevin Phelan (Europe)
Cory Whitsett (USA) def. Scott Fernandez, 3 and 2
Sean Dale (USA) halved Julien Brun
Ben Taylor (Europe) def. Daniel Berger, 2 and 1
James Erkenbeck (USA) def. Pedro Figueiredo, 2 and 1
Pontus Widegren (Europe) def. Michael Kim, 1 up
Alex Carpenter (USA) halved Greg Eason
Michael Weaver (USA) def. Joel Stalter, 3 and 1
Justin Thomas (USA) def. Sebastian Cappelen, 2 and 1
Patrick Rodgers (USA) def. Gary Hurley, 2 and 1