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On this date in area sports history …
Twelve years ago on this date in local sports history, the News-Sun published a story about Springfield High School graduate Rod Myers being named head coach of the U.S. Palmer Cup team, the collegiate squad that competes against a team of British and Irish players. Myers passed away in 2007.
Published: 05/08/1998
CUP RUNNETH OVER FOR SPRINGFIELD’S MYERS
DUKE COACH TABBED TO LEAD PALMER TEAM
By Steve Jacoby, News-Sun Sports Writer
This July, Duke golf coach Rod Myers will become a grandfather for the first time.
But that may not be the only reason for the Springfield native to pass around cigars this summer.
Myers will coach the United States team in the second annual Palmer Cup tournament — the collegiate equivalent of the Ryder Cup — Aug. 3-4 in St. Andrews, Scotland.
There, on the hallowed grounds where golf originated, the U.S. will be looking to defend the title they won a year ago in the match play competition against the combined Great Britain-Ireland squad. And Myers will be leading the way.
“To be able to play this type of competition at St. Andrews would have to be the epitome of everything,” said Myers, a 1957 Springfield High School graduate. “I hope the players are as excited as I am.”
The Palmer Cup, named after sponsor Arnold Palmer, features match play between eight top U.S. collegiate men’s golfers and their counterparts from Great Britain and Ireland. The U.S. won last year in Orlando, Fla., 19-5.
To keep the momentum going, the Golf Coaches Association of America tapped the 58-year-old Myers to lead a group of collegians headed by Georgia Tech’s Matt Kuchar, the low amateur at this year’s Masters.
Myers, in his 25th season at Duke following coaching stints at Maryland and Ohio State, has coached six All-Americas, led both Duke and Ohio State to top 10 national team finishes, was selected to the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1986 and has officiated at three of the four PGA majors. But he considers the latest honor among his biggest.
“I took it as a normal, everyday thing,” he said. “Then I realized how important it is.”
Myers knows a win on foreign turf could ease some of the hangover from last year’s Ryder Cup failure, when the U.S. — despite the likes of Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson and Mark O’Meara — fell to the Europeans for the second straight time in the biennial competition.
“I think it’ll be a little more pressure playing away from home,” Myers said. “We have to get over the jetlag, get used to eating different food and adjust to playing a different style of golf. … If the wind starts gusting 25-30 mph, it could really test the guys.”
Myers plans to meet with the U.S. team members at the NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., the last week of May. Then things will start to heat up this summer.
“I’ve had a lot of nice things happen,” he said, “but this is one of the highlights.”
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