Las Vegas, Nev – Sun Devil Men's Golf head coach Matt Thurmond has been selected to lead Team USA at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup set to be held July 5-7 at Lahinch Golf Club in Lahinch, Ireland.
The Ryder Cup style competition features the best men's and women's collegiate golfers against their international counterparts in an event that's been played annually since 1997, with the addition of the women's competition in 2018. Team USA leads the all-time series 14-12-1.
""I'm so excited to coach at the Arnold Palmer Cup. It's such an honor to represent Mr. Palmer, the country, college golf, and ASU in such an amazing event. This is a really big deal to me and I'm hoping some of our Devils will be competing with me!" said head coach Matt Thurmond.
Thurmond is in the midst of his eighth season at the helm of Arizona State, coming off three straight top-5 appearances at the NCAA Championships, including a runner-up finish to Texas in 2022. Leading ASU to its best three-year stretch since 1990-1992. During his tenure in Tempe, he garnered his first Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor at ASU in 2019 and earned the Frank Kush Award in 2021-22, a prestigious honor voted by fellow Sun Devil coaches.
The 2019 Pac-12 coach of the year has led ASU to 20 team titles, including back-to-back wins at NCAA Regionals in 2022 and 2023, a feat that was last accomplished in 1998 and 1999. Thurmond has led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Championships every year since taking control of the program in 2016 and led ASU to match-play at the NCAA Championships the last three seasons held at Grayhawk Golf Club.
In addition, the Sun Devils have had 25 individual medalists and nine different Sun Devils have become All-Americans, including Cameron Sisk (2019-22) who was a three-time All-American and Preston Summerhays who represented the United States in the 2023 Walker Cup, going 2-1-1 in match play in a Team USA victory and earned First-team All-American honors in 2023.
In 2022, Thurmond earned the status of an ASU graduate after completing his master's degree in Applied Leadership and Management. He's one of eight head coaches to be Arizona State alumni.
Prior to coming ASU. Thurmond spent 15 years at Washington created a perennial national championship contending program for the Huskies. With 12 total NCAA Championship appearances. The 2009 Golfweek National Coach of the Year and earned two Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors ('05, '09), and Thurmond coached Washington to three conference titles in 2005, 2009, and 2010.
Thurmond graduated from BYU where he was a four-year letterwinner for the Cougar golf program (1993-99) and was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 1994. Thurmond is joined at Arizona State by wife Kathryn and their three daughters.
The Ryder Cup style competition features the best men's and women's collegiate golfers against their international counterparts in an event that's been played annually since 1997, with the addition of the women's competition in 2018. Team USA leads the all-time series 14-12-1.
""I'm so excited to coach at the Arnold Palmer Cup. It's such an honor to represent Mr. Palmer, the country, college golf, and ASU in such an amazing event. This is a really big deal to me and I'm hoping some of our Devils will be competing with me!" said head coach Matt Thurmond.
Thurmond is in the midst of his eighth season at the helm of Arizona State, coming off three straight top-5 appearances at the NCAA Championships, including a runner-up finish to Texas in 2022. Leading ASU to its best three-year stretch since 1990-1992. During his tenure in Tempe, he garnered his first Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor at ASU in 2019 and earned the Frank Kush Award in 2021-22, a prestigious honor voted by fellow Sun Devil coaches.
Episode 36 with @MattThurmond from @ArizonaState Mens Golf is now live, this has already had so much positive feedback.
— Your Golf Performance Podcast (@YGP_Podcast) November 17, 2023
He was such a cool person to chat with and so knowledgeable https://t.co/DR8BWOqtIK pic.twitter.com/vZHMjMG2Q7
The 2019 Pac-12 coach of the year has led ASU to 20 team titles, including back-to-back wins at NCAA Regionals in 2022 and 2023, a feat that was last accomplished in 1998 and 1999. Thurmond has led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Championships every year since taking control of the program in 2016 and led ASU to match-play at the NCAA Championships the last three seasons held at Grayhawk Golf Club.
In addition, the Sun Devils have had 25 individual medalists and nine different Sun Devils have become All-Americans, including Cameron Sisk (2019-22) who was a three-time All-American and Preston Summerhays who represented the United States in the 2023 Walker Cup, going 2-1-1 in match play in a Team USA victory and earned First-team All-American honors in 2023.
In 2022, Thurmond earned the status of an ASU graduate after completing his master's degree in Applied Leadership and Management. He's one of eight head coaches to be Arizona State alumni.
Prior to coming ASU. Thurmond spent 15 years at Washington created a perennial national championship contending program for the Huskies. With 12 total NCAA Championship appearances. The 2009 Golfweek National Coach of the Year and earned two Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors ('05, '09), and Thurmond coached Washington to three conference titles in 2005, 2009, and 2010.
Thurmond graduated from BYU where he was a four-year letterwinner for the Cougar golf program (1993-99) and was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 1994. Thurmond is joined at Arizona State by wife Kathryn and their three daughters.