Elvira Named to European Palmer Cup Team
Apr 20, 2011 | Men's Golf
April 20, 2011
NORMAN, Okla. - Texas A&M senior Nacho Elvira has been selected to represent Team Europe in the 2011 Palmer Cup, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced Wednesday.
Elvira (pronounced el-VEE-ruh), from Santander, Spain, is one of eight collegians that will make up the European squad in the annual Ryder Cup-style competition, to be played June 9-11 at The Stanwich Club outside Greenwich, Conn.
"Nacho has had a great year and career at Texas A&M and is so deserving of this honor," head coach J.T. Higgins said. "He has also played extremely well for Spain in their team competitions so his experience and ability in match play made him an obvious choice. He will be tough to beat in The Palmer Cup."
Elvira becomes only the second Aggie to ever be selected to compete in the event, as Andrea Pavan represented the Europeans in each of the last two seasons.
Joining Elvira on Team Europe is Arkansas' Sebastian Cappelen (Denmark), Texas Tech's Nils Floren (Sweden), Jeff Karlsson of Kennesaw State (Sweden), Liberty's Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Nick MacAndrew of Aberdeen (Scotland), Augusta State's Henrik Norlander (Sweden) and UCLA's Pontus Widegren (Sweden).
Team USA will consist of Blayne Barber of Auburn, UCLA's Patrick Cantlay, Abilene Christian's Alex Carpenter, Russell Henley of Georgia, Oregon's Daniel Miernicki, Bank Vongvanij of Florida, Washington's Chris Williams and Stanford's Andrew Yun.
The United States leads the Palmer Cup series, 7-6-1.
Elvira and his Texas A&M teammates are fresh off an 18-shot victory at the Aggie Invitational over the weekend, and head to Hutchinson, Kan., to take part in the Big 12 Championship Monday through Wednesday at Prairie Dunes Country Club.
