Junior Braden Thornberry has now added another accolade to his already impressive resume. The Ole Miss golfer was selected this past week to represent the United States in this summer’s 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup.The collegiate version of the Ryder Cup, the Arnold Palmer Cup pits a team of golfers from the United States, which Thornberry will join, against players from all over the world. The 2018 event will take place July 6-8 at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France, where the LPGA hosts a major championship each year. This year’s expanded Palmer Cup marks the first time the event will feature both men’s and women’s collegiate golfers. The 2018 United States team is composed of 12 men and 12 women.
Ole Miss Rebels Braden Thornberry plays the ball from the tee during round four of the 2017 Division I Men’s Golf Championships on May 29, 2017. Thornberry will compete in the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup to represent the United States in July. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
Thornberry was one of the 11 committee selections for the U.S. team and joins major champions Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Justin Thomas. The United States won the Palmer Cup in 2010 with the help of former Rebel golfer Jonathan Randolph. This is not the first time Thornberry, an Olive Branch native, will get to represent his country. He competed in the 2017 Walker Cup and was a pivotal contributor in leading the United States to a win over Great Britain and Ireland.
Currently the defending Haskins Award winner, which establishes him as the nation’s best collegiate golfer, Thornberry sits second in the amateur golfer world rankings and will look to carry his success through the Ole Miss season and on to the Palmer Cup.
The event will be played July 6-8 in France. By that point, the NCAA season will have come to a close, which means the cup could be the last event Thornberry competes in as an amateur and as an Ole Miss Rebel. If this is the case, he could easily end his college career as the top player in school history.
