For the second time this year, Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster is representing the U.S. in a prominent international competition. And for the second time this year, she was part of the first match of the event.
A month after going 3-1-1 in the Americans’ Curtis Cup rout of Great Britain & Ireland, Kupcho teamed up with Matthew Wolff to defeat Olivia Mehaffey and Viktor Hovland of the International squad, 4 and 2 in Friday’s mixed four-ball of the Arnold Palmer Cup in Evian-les-Bains, France. The Palmer Cup features the top players in college golf competing in a Ryder Cup-like competition.
In the first Palmer Cup to include female competitors, Kupcho, the NCAA individual champion from Wake Forest, helped the U.S. build an 8-4 lead with two days remaining in the event.
Kupcho and Wolff, who plays for NCAA team champion Oklahoma State, never trailed on Friday, but were all square with Mehaffey and Hovland through eight holes. But the Americans won four consecutive holes starting on No. 9 to take control. During that stretch, Kupcho and Wolff went eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie.
Overall on Friday, after parring each of their first three holes,
Kupcho and Wolff played their final 13 holes in 10 under par and their final eight holes in 8 under. They earned the first point for the U.S. team.
Saturday will feature mixed foursomes in the morning and a four-ball in the afternoon. And Sunday will be singles matches.
The event is being held at the Evian Resort Golf Club, which annually hosts the Evian Championship on the LPGA Tour.
Kupcho, who’s ranked No. 2 in the world in women’s amateur golf, is the third player who’s grown up in Colorado to have competed in the Palmer Cup, following Steve Ziegler (2009) and Wyndham Clark (2014). Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the matches in 2009, with Palmer himself in attendance. Palmer, of course, played golf at the same university as Kupcho does — Wake Forest. The King passed away in 2016.
The Americans lead the all-time series, 11-9-1. This is the first year an international squad is facing the U.S., rather than one strictly limited to European players.
For all the Palmer Cup results from Friday, CLICK HERE.
