ORLANDO, Fla. — Stanford’s Paula Martín Sampedro was selected for the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup, announced Tuesday on Golf Channel. She will represent Team International at this year’s event in Ireland.
The 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup will be played July 3-5 at Tralee Golf Links in West Barrow, Ireland. This Ryder-Cup style competition sees men and women from the United States playing side-by-side against their international counterparts. The event began in 1997 and runs every summer.
The individual champion at the 2026 ACC Championship, Martín Sampedro, currently holds a 69.57 scoring average, which would be the second-best in program history if the season ended. 11 of her 21 rounds have been in the 60s, and she has two individuals to her credit this spring.
Martín Sampedro becomes just the second Cardinal ever to earn a second selection to the Arnold Palmer Cup. Megha Ganne played last year for the United States in her second appearance.
International team selections include Nguyen Anh Minh (Oregon State; Vietnam), Daniel Bennett (Texas; South Africa), Vanessa Borovilos (Texas A&M; Canada), Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio (Texas A&M; Spain), Paula Francisco (Florida; Spain), Connor Graham (Texas Tech; Scotland), Veronika Kedronova (Kent State; Czech Republic), Lauren Kim (Texas; Canada), Marie Eline Madsen (NC State; Denmark), Rianne Malixi (Duke; Philippines), Maria Jose Marin (Arkansas; Colombia), Paula Martín Sampedro (Stanford; Spain), Malan Potgieter (Louisiana; South Africa), Luke Poulter (Florida; England), Patience Rhodes (Arizona State; England), Niall Sheils Donegan (North Carolina; Scotland), Árni Sveinsson (LSU; Iceland), Zack Swanwick (Florida; New Zealand), Harry Takis (San Diego State; Australia), and Tim Wiedemeyer (Texas Tech; Germany). Caitlin Maurice (St Andrews; New Zealand) and George Cannon (Stirling; Scotland) were selected as representatives of The R&A’s Student Tour Series. Head Coaches Janice Olivencia and Brennan Webb selected Marta Silchenko (Oklahoma State; Latvia) and Jack Buchanan (Southern California; South Africa), respectively, as their coach’s picks.
United States team selections include Kihei Akina (BYU), Kylie Chong (Southern California), Ryder Cowan (Oklahoma), Anna Davis (Auburn), Wheaton Ennis (Texas A&M), Josiah Gilbert (Auburn), William Jennings (Alabama), Jasmine Koo (Southern California), Chloe Kovelesky (Wake Forest), Jacob Modleski (Notre Dame), Farah O’Keefe (Texas), Macy Pate (Wake Forest), Cayden Pope (Auburn), Megan Propeck (Florida), Kiara Romero (Oregon), Bailey Shoemaker (Southern California), Jack Turner (Florida), Willy Walsh (Pepperdine), Avery Weed (Mississippi State), and Connor Williams (Arizona State). Amely Bochaton (Wingate) and Jonathan McEwen (Washington and Lee) were the non-Division I selections. Head Coaches Laura Ianello and Trey Jones selected Mackenzie Lee (SMU) and Max Herendeen (Illinois), respectively, as their coach’s picks.
This brings the all-time total of Cardinal to play in the Arnold Palmer Cup to 14, with Andrea Lee and Albane Valenzuela becoming the first in 2018. Stanford has had as many as four Cardinal in the Arnold Palmer Cup field in a single season, done twice in 2022 and 2025.
The Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and began at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Fla., in 1997. The event is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men’s and women’s university/college golfers matching the United States against a team of International players. The Palmer Cup has been played at some of the world’s greatest courses, including The Old Course at St. Andrews, The Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Baltusrol, The Honors Course, Cherry Hills, and Lahinch. Beginning with the 2018 matches at Evian Resort Golf Club, the Palmer Cup is the only major tournament that features men and women playing side-by-side as partners.
Since its inception, over 250 former Arnold Palmer Cup alumni have gone on to earn cards on the PGA, DP World, or LPGA Tours; 46 have represented Europe/International or the USA in the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, or Solheim Cup, and more than 100 have claimed over 450 victories on the PGA, DP World, LPGA, or Ladies European Tours. The United States leads the Palmer Cup series 15-13-1.