The Georgia Military College Athletic Department and the Men's Golf team is pleased to announce that Floris Veth, FR (Netherlands) has been officially notified that he is a candidate for the prestigious collegiate golf event, the Arnold Palmer Cup. The Arnold Palmer Cup will be held June 9-11 at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia. The first six individuals selected for both USA and Europe will come from the Arnold Palmer Cup Player Ranking that includes golfers from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA programs. The remaining four spots will be based on committee and coaches selections. Both the United States and European Arnold Palmer Cup teams will be announced Thursday, March 16 at 10 am during the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.
In 1997 Arnold Palmer was approached by the Golf Coaches Association of America regarding lending his name to an international collegiate event between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland. The event would use a Ryder Cup-style format and bring together the top eight collegiate players in the United States against their counterparts from GB&I. Palmer, a former collegiate player himself, has been called America's greatest Ambassador for the game of golf. With his blessing and the support of the Arnold Palmer Golf Company, the inaugural event was played at his own Bay Hill Club in Florida in June 1997.
"I had long thought that an international competition such as this would enrich the lives of young men through the universal bond of the great game of golf," said Mr. Arnold Palmer.
Upon conclusion of the 2002 event at Doonbeg in Ireland, a decision was made to alter the team composition by including all European players with those from Great Britain and Ireland. The affects of this decision significantly changed the Arnold Palmer Cup in its international appeal and competitiveness of the matches. Teams were expanded to 10 players each starting in 2013. Currently the United States leads the all-time series 10-9-1. Players like recent winner Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Lucas Glover, Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler and many more, all of them on the PGA Tour have competed in this collegiate event.
Floris is a freshmen with the GMC Men's Golf team this year as he has traveled across the pond to pursue his dream of playing collegiate golf and one day on a professional tour. Floris's career here at GMC is off to a solid start as he is the Golfstat #7 golfer overall in Division II and III. His scoring average of 71.76 is the low man on the team and has him in the running for low scorer for the year on Golfstat for NJCAA Division II and III schools. This past fall he recorded a 2nd place finish at the Reinhardt Invitational, won a match play event against an opponent from Oxford-Emory University, and most recently finished 3 shots out of first for a 4th place finish at the Spring Hill Invitational at the Robert Trent Jones course, Magnolia Grove Golf Club. He is also part of a Freshmen class that is ranked #7 in all of the NJCAA Men's Golf programs in Golfstat.
Coach Miller stated, "Any coach would be blessed to have a person like Floris Veth on their team. Floris Veth leads by example. He doesn't always have a lot to say, but when he does, it's usually very meaningful. Coach Shipes and I have watched a lot of golf this season and we've yet to come across anyone as impressive of a golfer and as a person as Floris. What an honor it is for Floris to be on the official watch list for this event. We are happy for him."