Phillips to Represent USA at Palmer Cup

ORLANDO, Fla.  – Texas A&M sophomore Chandler Phillips was chosen to represent the United States at the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup on Thursday as teams for both Europe and the United States were announced during the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. The annual Ryder Cup-style competition will be played June 9-11 at Atlanta Athletic Club. 
 
The Huntsville, Texas, native stands out as one of the country's top golfers this season, leading the Aggies in both scoring average (70.04) and top-10 finishes (7). The 2016 Second Team All-SEC performer has shot par or lower in 21 of 24 rounds this year and is on pace for the best scoring average in school history, a full stroke better than the current record holder (Jordan Russell – 71.60 in 2010-11).
 
Phillips has posted a pair of individual victories this season, winning the Golfweek Conference Challenge during the fall and the John Burns Intercollegiate in mid-February, while carding three other top-five showings.
 
Joining Phillips on the six-man United States team, which was determined by ranking, include Sam Burns of LSU, Collin Morikawa of California, Virginia's Jimmy Stanger, Stanford's Maverick McNealy and Oregon's Norman Xiong. John Coultas of Florida Southern, Southern California's Sean Crocker and Illinois' Nick Hardy were committee selections. Coultas was the designated non-Division I player while Doug Ghim of Texas was John Fields' coach's pick.
 
McNealy represented the United States in 2015 and was selected to compete in 2016 but withdrew from the event allowing Ghim to be added to Team USA.
 
Texas Tech and Sweden's Hannes Ronneblad and Fredrik Nilehn, Kristoffer Ventura of Oklahoma State (Norway), Jacksonville's David Wicks (England), Harry Ellis of Florida State (England) and Missouri's Rory Fransson (Scotland) qualified for Team Europe by finishing in the top six of the Arnold Palmer Cup player ranking. Committee selections were Maynooth's Stuart Grehan (Ireland) and Viktor Hovland of Oklahoma State (Norway). Richard Mansell of Nova Southeastern (England) was David Inglis' coach's pick. The final member of the team will be the winner of The R&A Foundation Scholars Tournament, which will be contested April 3-4.
 
Grehan is the only returning member from Europe's victorious squad last season. Wicks is the first Arnold Palmer Cup participant from Jacksonville while Fransson is the first representative from Missouri. Team Europe represents only five countries in 2017, the fewest since 2011.
 
For more information visit www.arnoldpalmercup.com.
 
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TEAM UNITED STATES
 
Ranking Selections
 Sam Burns, LSU
Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M
Collin Morikawa, California
Jimmy Stanger, Virginia
Maverick McNealy Stanford
Norman Xiong, Oregon
 
Committee Selections
John Coultas, Florida Southern
Sean Crocker, Southern California
Nick Hardy, Illinois
 
Coach's Pick
Doug Ghim, Texas
 
Team USA Coaches
Head Coach - John Fields, Texas
Assistant Coach - Andrew DiBitetto, North Carolina
 
 
TEAM EUROPE
                                                                   
Ranking Selections
Hannes Ronneblad, Texas Tech - Sweden
Fredrik Nilehn, Texas Tech - Sweden
Kristoffer Ventura, Oklahoma State - Norway
David Wicks, Jacksonville - England
Harry Elllis, Florida State - England
Rory Franssen, Missouri - Scotland
 
Committee Selections
 Stuart Grehan, Maynooth - Ireland
Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State - Norway
 
Coach's Pick
 
Richard Mansell, Nova Southeastern - England
 
Team Europe Coaches
Head Coach - David Inglis, Northwestern - Scotland
Assistant Coach - Alan Murray, Washington - Ireland