Alabama’s Jiwon Jeon Named to International Team for 2019 Palmer Cup
3/6/2019 6:38:00 PM | Women's Golf
Jeon to compete in the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup for the second consecutive year
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama's Jiwon Jeon was named to the International Team that will compete in the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup, which was announced Tuesday night on the Golf Channel. It marks the second consecutive year that the junior from Daegu, South Korea, has earned a spot at the prestigious event.
Jeon will not be the only representative for the Crimson Tide as women's golf head coach Mic Potter will also be representing UA in the annual event. Potter was named the co-head coach of the United States team last November and will guide his squad against Jeon's International Team.
"I know Jiwon was excited in anticipating the selection to this year's Palmer Cup team," Potter said. "At the beginning of the year, one of her goals was to play in the Palmer Cup again and of course her body of work got her in the top six in the rankings which is a little comforting knowing you don't have to wait on the committee's selections. I'm proud of her and I'm glad she made the International team. I joked with her that I need her to play well through Nationals, but I am going to work hard to try and mess her up leading into this event. But seriously, she is a tough competitor and tough to coach against, so I am looking forward to it."
This year's Arnold Palmer Cup will take place June 7-9, 2019 at the Alotian Club in Roland, Ark. Jeon will be a member of the 24-member International Team which will include 12 men's and women's collegiate golfers and will face off against Potter's United States squad with a similar makeup.
Jeon follows in the footsteps of former Alabama women's golfers, Kristen Gillman and Lauren Stephenson who played on the United States' team a year ago. Additionally, Alabama's Susan Rosenstiel was the assistant coach and helped guide the United States to a victory over the International Team in last year's event, which was played in Evian, France.
"It's a tremendous honor to have coaching representation from our program in each of the last two Palmer Cup events," Potter said. "To have a program in which multiple players on last year's team and then Jiwon this year is a great honor. I know this event was something that was really special to Arnold Palmer in helping promote the game and bringing the males and females together in this competition. To be involved in that in his name and playing great venues against some of the top collegiate players is something that I never realized the importance of or how special it was. The more I'm immersed in it, the more I see that this is an opportunity of a lifetime."
Last year, Jeon was a committee selection for the International Team and the first junior-college player to compete in the tournament's 21-year history. This year Jiwon was an automatic pick based on Golfstat's NCAA Player Ranking's, as well as wins, high finishes and strength of schedule.
Jeon leads the Tide's women's team this season, posting a team-leading 70.86 stroke average to go along with two top-five finishes including one tournament victory. The junior leads the team in rounds in the 60s, with six in 14 rounds played this season. The Daegu, South Korea, native picked up her first tournament win on Sept. 30 at the Schooner Fall Classic when she broke a school record scoring a 17-under par 196.
The Arnold Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style tournament co-founded by Arnold Palmer and The Golf Coaches Association of America in 1997. From 1997-2017, the tournament featured teams of men's collegiate golfers representing the United States and Europe. The 2018 edition of the Arnold Palmer Cup was the first to use the expanded format of United States men's and women's collegiate golfers facing their counterparts from around the world.
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