June 28, 2006
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s Roberto Castro and Kevin Larsen are set to open competition Thursday as part of the United States team which is competing in the 2006 Palmer Cup, an annual Ryder Cup-style competition between American collegiate golfers and their European counterparts.
The 2006 matches are being contested at Prestwick Golf Club (6,544 yards, par 71) in Prestwick, Scotland. Prestwick is situated half an hour southwest of Glasgow on the famous golfing Ayrshire coast. A stretch of land unequalled anywhere in the world for prime golfing terrain, Prestwick shares its boundaries with Royal Troon and is just 20 minutes from Turnberry.
The U.S. team also includes Ryan Baca of Baylor, Ryan Blaum of Duke, Brian Harman and Chris Kirk of Georgia, Luke List of Vanderbilt and Clay Ogden of Brigham Young. Chris Haack, the head coach at the University of Georgia, is serving as coach of the U.S. team.
Blaum and Castro each posted 3-1 records in last year’s Palmer Cup and teamed up for a four-ball victory in the event’s opening round. Castro also served as team captain while Blaum was assistant captain. The U.S. team defeated Europe, 14-10, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis.
Six of the eight European team members play collegiatetely at American universities, including Alejandro Canizares of Spain (Arizona State), Rhys Davies of Wales (East Tennessee State), Oscar Floren of Sweden (Texas Tech), Mark Haastrup of Denmark (Georgia State), Stephen Lewton of England (NC State) and Pablo Martin of Spain (Oklahoma State).
Thursday’s format includes four-ball matches, matches in which two players from each team compete in better-ball competition, in the morning, and singles matches in the afternoon. Alternate-shot matches, in which two players from each team compete alternate shots throughout their round, will be contested Friday morning, with singles matches again in the afternoon.
Click here for live scoring of the matches.
JACKETS WELL-REPRESENTED AT DOGWOOD INVITATIONAL
Recent graduate Mike Barbosa highlights a list of seven past, present and future Georgia Tech golfers playing at this week’s Dogwood Invitational, one of the summer’s main amateur events being contested at Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta.
Barbosa fired a 67 in Tuesday’s opening round and is tied for seventh place. Also competing are current team members Adam Cohan, a rising sophomore from Wayne, Pa., David Dragoo, a rising sophomore from Scottsdale, Ariz., Taylor Hall, as well as rising sophomore from LaGrange, Ga. Three incoming freshmen, Daniel Bowden of Easley, S.C., John-Tyler Griffin of Wilson, N.C., and Paul Haley of Dallas, Texas, also are competing.
Click here for scores and tee times for the Dogwood, which continues through Friday.
