Photo credit: Albert Chang
California men’s golfer Sampson Zheng was selected to play in the prestigious Arnold Palmer Cup for the second consecutive year, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced on Golf Channel on Tuesday. The Ryder Cup-style competition, which features men’s and women’s collegiate golfers from the United States versus their International counterparts, will be played July 5-7 at the famed Irish links at Lahinch Golf Club.
Zheng, who was an automatic qualifier in 2023, will again represent China in playing for the international team this summer. He’s just the second Golden Bear to be selected to multiple Palmer Cup rosters, joining Collin Morikawa, who played for Team USA in 2017 and 2018. Both teams feature 12 golfers apiece, and the full Palmer Cup rosters can be viewed at arnoldpalmercup.com.
Zheng has excelled in collegiate stroke-play events this season, earning four top-10 finishes in seven tournaments, including three in a row since early March. The senior – who is ranked 41st nationally (Clippd) and 19th in the PGA TOUR University rankings – has averaged 70.42 strokes per round and is 15-under-par across 21 total rounds played.
A 2023 GCAA/PING All-America second-team selection, Zheng won one match and shot a hole-in-one at last year’s Palmer Cup, played at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Pennsylvania. He owns 12 career top-10 finishes and one victory collegiately and has succeeded at the amateur level, winning the 2023 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship and tying for second place at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
Zheng is one of eight Cal men’s golfers to play in the Palmer Cup, along with Morikawa (2017, ’18), KK Limbhasut (2018), Brandon Hagy (2014), Michael Kim (2013), Michael Weaver (2013), Joël Stalter (2013) and Peter Tomasulo (2003). 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.