Since its inception in 1973 in Pinehurst, North Carolina, the PGA Cup has provided a dramatic stage for the finest PGA of America Golf Professionals to jump-start or enhance their careers in a Ryder Cup-style competition against their counterparts from Great Britain & Ireland with pride, passion, patriotism and the prestigious Llandudno International Trophy at stake.
In lockstep with tradition, the best of the best PGA of America Professionals will provide a match play encore to a high-octane 2024 season Sept. 10-15 at Sunriver (Oregon) Resort opposite the finest from GB&I, with the U.S. Team pursuing its third straight PGA Cup victory and its ninth win in 13 Cups.
Once again, the U.S. Team will send a virtual who’s who of PGA of America Golf Professionals against the GB&I side that features a well-balanced mix of experience, youth, talent and firepower. The 10-man U.S. Team, determined through a two-year point system that included the 2023–24 PGA Professional Championships, is anchored by 2024 PGA Professional Champion Ben Polland of Jackson Hole, Wyoming; 2023 PGA Professional Champion Braden Shattuck of Aston, Pennsylvania, and 2022–23 PGA Professional Player of the Year Michael Block of Mission Viejo, California.
Four U.S. PGA Cup Returnees
Block and Polland join Jesse Mueller of Phoenix and Jared Jones of Houston as returnees from the U.S. Team’s 15.5-10.5 victory over GB&I in 2022 in Surrey, England. PGA of America Past President Jim Richerson, who will Captain the U.S. side, also will call on John Somers of Trinity, Florida; Andy Svoboda of Oak Brook, Illinois; Jeremy Wells of Estero, Florida; Matt Cahill of West Palm Beach, Florida; and Tyler Collett of Vero Beach, Florida, in the three-day competition that culminates with 10 singles matches on Sept. 15.
“We have an extremely strong team this year – a team that has and can play in all types of conditions and performs on all types of courses,” notes Richerson, who has prepared a comprehensive scouting report for the U.S. Team on the Meadows Course at Sunriver Resort. “They have proven it in their play at the Section level, in national tournaments, and in the PGA Championship and U.S. Open.
“Our guys are seasoned, and I know they will come ready to compete,” says Richerson. “Being involved in the PGA Cup is a great honor.”
Respect for GB&I Team
Richerson has a great deal of respect for GB&I Captain Tim Rouse, and understands that both sides will be working hard to win the Llandudno International Trophy while maintaining sportsmanship and developing relationships with teammates and opponents that will last a lifetime. “Both teams have talented players, both teams are very passionate and both are competitive and want to win,” emphasizes Richerson. “And both do it with such sportsmanship and pride.”
Rouse has a rich background in golf course architecture and golf operations, and is regarded as a leading swing coach in Europe.
“Among others, Tim has helped Paul Broadhurst, who has had great success on the European Tour and PGA Champions Tour, which included Broadhurst winning the 2018 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship,” observes Richerson.
“All of the players on the GB&I side play competitively on a regular basis, and have had years of tour-level experience. They have several players with PGA Cup experience.”
Since only 10 PGA of America Professionals earn a spot on the U.S. PGA Cup roster every two years, it is a career highlight and truly an honor to “make the cut” and represent country, Section and Association in the biennial matches.
“The PGA Cup is an incredible privilege to be a part of,” explains Polland, the PGA Director of Golf at Shooting Star of Jackson Hole. “The previous two that I’ve played in are two of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had in golf. Being on a team, wearing the flag, and engaging in healthy competition with other industry professionals are just a few of my favorite parts of the PGA Cup.”
The Mystique of Match Play
Polland and the U.S. Team know they will need to shift gears from stroke (medal) play to match play in the 2024 PGA Cup matches on the Meadows Course at Sunriver Resort. In the heat of match play, Polland understands you can play well and still lose and, occasionally, you can play mediocre and still win the match while perhaps taking some risk-reward chances you might not take in stroke-play.
“I’ve seen some incredible golf over the years in the PGA Cup,” says Polland, who will be joined in Oregon by fiancée Aly Mackenzie, only two weeks before their wedding. “Matt Dobyns and I played foursomes together at Cordevalle in 2015. We were 3- or 4-under through 14 holes and lost the match!
“My favorite memory though is winning with our team in England two years ago. That team was so fun, and we had a great time together.”
Polland explains that another part of the PGA Cup that makes it so memorable is the social aspect of the week, which includes building camaraderie with teammates, GB&I players, PGA officials and with partners/couples.
Serious Business on the Sold-Out Show Floor
The action moved back inside the resort for the second and third days of the 2024 PGA Buying Summit, which featured golf retail sourcing activity spread across two ballrooms. Top brands in the sold-out exhibit space included Nike Golf, Greyson, Holderness & Bourne, Under Armour, Dunning, Vineyard Vines and Johnnie-O, along with emerging brands such as Eastside Golf, Featherie, Flag & Anthem, Fore All, Devon Halsey, Kastel Denmark and Jack Black.
PGA of America Golf Professionals and golf shop buyers were impressed with the mix of new and established brands, and the ability to have relaxed, in-depth sourcing conversations.
“We’re finding a lot of great products for our clubs,” said PGA of America Golf Professional Michelle Kempe, National Director of Retail for Escalante Golf. “It’s such an easy event to navigate, which makes it very efficient for buyers. There’s a great mix of brands, the traffic seems strong, and the energy is high. I like that the PGA Buying Summit is really focused on buying, and the events in the evening are a nice addition.”
Exhibitors were also impressed by the traffic and chance to make an impression during the 2024 PGA Buying Summit.
“It’s our first time at a PGA Show event, and we’ve made a lot of new relationships and written a lot of orders,” said Teresa Fernandez of Hooey – Cowboy Golf, a Western clothing and accessories company. “We’ve had a golf line for about five years, but it’s exciting that a lot of people are learning about us because we’re here. It would take us a long time to meet this many accounts on our own, and we’re getting a lot of feedback as to how we can build our golf business even more.”
In addition to the golf retail sourcing opportunities, the second day of the PGA Buying Summit provided an opportunity for attendees to tour the Home of the PGA of America, as well as take part in equipment and fitness education sessions at the new PGA of America Coaching Center powered by T-Mobile. Callaway Golf, Ping, Technogym, XXIO, PGA of America Value Guide, PGA COACH and Next Chapter Social all were on hand for the complimentary sessions.
The second day of the 2024 PGA Buying Summit concluded by returning to the Monument Realty PGA District for the new Summer Jam Golf Festival. Complimentary barbecue and drinks for attendees were provided and live music and entertainment were on tap throughout the evening. Putting contests were held on The Dance Floor, the lighted two-acre putting course, and The Swing was open to attendees with complimentary tee times.
“It was really fun to see how many people were out on The Swing and The Dance Floor experiencing what we have here at PGA Frisco,” said PGA of America Vice President Don Rea Jr. “It’s cool to see our PGA of America Members and golf industry people shuttling between the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, the Monument Realty PGA District and our PGA Headquarters for this chance to do some buying at a great time of year, see the new Home of the PGA of America and spend time with other leaders in the golf business.”
Block, the PGA of America Head Professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in California, counts his previous two appearances in the PGA Cup matches among his most memorable experiences in golf. That is saying something considering Block’s incredible 2023 PGA Championship success.
“The PGA Cup is something all of us who still play the game seriously want to be part of – it’s an entirely different experience than playing for yourself,” he says.
“Every PGA Cup is a different experience, with different teammates, different opponents and different memories,” says Block. “You always want to come in playing your best because you’re representing PGA of America Professionals everywhere and you don’t want to let your teammates down.”
PGA Cup is Truly Special
Shattuck, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club in Aston, Penn sylvania, won the 2023 PGA Professional Championship over a star-studded field at Twin Warriors Golf Club in New Mexico and cemented his spot on the 2024 U.S. PGA Cup Team by finishing as Low PGA Professional in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla. He shot a closing 74 at Valhalla to finish at 1-under 283 while making the cut at his first major championship. Next stop for Shattuck and Wells, the only other PGA of America Golf Professional to make the 36-hole cut at Valhalla, is the PGA Cup.
“Everyone I’ve talked to says the PGA Cup is the ultimate thing for PGA Professionals,” says Shattuck. “I’ve heard and read a lot about the competition, and it sounds just like the Ryder Cup as far as both sides are concerned.
“We’ll get there early and play some practice rounds as a team at Sunriver and form a strategy for playing each hole based on the situation of each match. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Sunriver Resort, which features four award-winning golf courses, is no stranger to hosting PGA of America events. Its Crosswater Course has hosted four PGA Member Championships. The PGA Cup will mark the first of three PGA of America competitions in 2024 at Sunriver Resort, with the Meadows and Woodlands courses hosting the Senior PGA Professional Championship Sept. 26–29 and the Meadows Course also welcoming the Women’s PGA Cup Oct. 1–5.
Sunriver’s Meadows Course is a classic John Fought design that stretches to 7,012 yards at par 71 and features seven holes bordering the Sun River.
“We’re confident that the Meadows Course will provide a challenging test for both the U.S. and International PGA Cup teams,” says PGA of America Professional Josh Willis, Sunriver Resort Director of Operations. “The Meadows has a great mix of challenging holes that promise to lend themselves to match play for the PGA Cup.”
Richerson notes that two of the trickier holes on the Meadows Course come in the first three holes, so getting off to a quick start will be paramount in each match.
“The starting holes will be key,” says Richerson. “The first hole in any match is always pivotal as it’s an opportunity to jump out to a quick lead. The second hole is a long and challenging dogleg left par 5, followed by one of the harder holes on the course, the par-4 third playing roughly 470 yards with water on both sides of the hole.”
Indeed, the third hole is listed on the Meadows Course scorecard as the most difficult on the course, a par-4 stretching some 470 yards with water left and right off the tee. It is a must to find the fairway off the tee and to avoid a large fairway bunker straightaway from the tee.