Photo credit Cathary Hayne/klcfotos
California men’s golfer Sampson Zheng was selected on Tuesday to play in the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup matches at Laurel Valley Golf Club outside of Ligonier, Pennsylvania on June 8-10. The prestigious Ryder Cup-style competition, in its 27th year, features the top men’s and women’s collegiate golfers from the United States versus their international counterparts.
Zheng, who will play for the international team, finished fifth in the final international men’s rankings that were released by the Palmer Cup committee on Tuesday. The top six golfers from the final ranking for both the United States and the international side were automatically selected for their respective teams. Both teams feature 12 golfers apiece, with the remainder of the rosters selected by the Palmer Cup committee. The full Palmer Cup rosters can be viewed at arnoldpalmercup.com.
An impressive junior season helped Zheng climb from 24th in the initial rankings last December to fifth with a percentage score of .9813. Using Golfstat’s NCAA Player Ranking as a base, the Palmer Cup Ranking awards bonus points for wins and high finishes and a penalty for poor finishes. The ranking also contains a strength of schedule component.
Zheng enters this weekend’s Pac-12 Championships at Stanford Golf Course ranked 27th nationally by Golfstat with a 69.66 season stroke average and is 38 shots under par through 24 rounds played. He has placed 22nd or better in all eight events played this season, including top-five finishes at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational (2nd), John A. Burns (T-1st), The Goodwin (T-5th) and the Western Intercollegiate (5th).
Zheng is the eighth player in Cal men’s golf history selected to play in the event and the first since 2018 when Collin Morikawa and KK Limbhasut represented Team USA and Team International, respectively. Other Bears who have played in the event include Brandon Hagy (2014), Michael Kim (2013), Michael Weaver (2013), Joël Stalter (2013) and Peter Tomasulo (2003). Morikawa is the only Bear to be selected twice (2017, ’18). Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men’s Golf Walter Chun was an assistant coach for the Americans in 2009, while Cal hall-of-famer and former head coach Steve Desimone served as Team USA’s head coach in 2014.