Around the Green

Hammer, Papp to Lead U.S. Team at the Spirit International

TRINITY – Texans Cole Hammer and Kaitlyn Papp have been named to Team USA for the 2019 Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship held Nov. 7-9 at Whispering Pines Golf Club.
 
The Spirit International is a premiere golf event featuring the world’s best men and women amateur golfers representing their respective countries in team and individual competitions. It is a biennial event which alternates with the World Amateur Team Championship.
 
Hammer, the No. 1-ranked male amateur in the world, is a sophomore at the University of Texas and played on the 2019 Walker Cup and Palmer Cup teams. The Houston native helped lead Texas to a second-place finish in the 2019 NCAA Championship. Hammer won the 2019 Phil Mickelson Award for college golf’s Freshman of the Year after he compiled a 69.44 stroke average in nine college events.
 
Papp, a junior at Texas, is currently No. 26 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The Austin native was a member of the 2018 and 2019 Palmer Cup teams. Papp was a 2019 first-team All-American selection and played in the 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
 
Joining Hammer and Papp on Team USA are 2019 U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree, a Georgia Tech senior from Little Rock, Miss., and Wake Forest junior Emilia Migliaccio from Cary, N.C. Ogletree is currently No. 36 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and played with Hammer on this summer’s victorious Walker Cup team. Migliaccio ranks ninth in the WAGR and was a member of the 2016 Junior Ryder Cup, 2017 Junior Solheim Cup and 2018 and 2019 Palmer Cup teams. She won a gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games and was the individual champion at the 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference championships.
 
The 2019 Spirit International features 80 competitors from 20 countries, representing six continents. The championship format is 54-hole four-ball stroke play with three concurrent competition categories: international team, men’s team and women’s team. Gold, Silver and Bronze commemorative medals are awarded to the top three finishers in each competition.
 
Team USA is looking for its sixth overall and fifth consecutive win. Their latest win came in 2015. The 2017 event was cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey. Twelve-time LPGA champion and Houston resident
Stacy Lewis looks forward to keeping the winning streak alive for Team USA.
 
“The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship is such a special event, and I look forward to serving as captain for Team USA,” said Lewis, who has won two professional major championships. “With Cole, Andy, Emilia and Kaitlyn, we have a great team that I know will represent our country well. It’s going to be a great week of competition.”
 
About The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship: Eighty competitors from 20 countries compete for gold medals in the 54-hole four-ball stroke play competition in The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship. Each country is represented by two women and two men amateur golfers.
 
Previous Spirit International competitors include Jordan Spieth, Francesco Molinari, Brandt Snedeker, Jason Day, Martin Kaymer, Viktor Hovland, Lexi Thompson, Bronte Law, Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Brooke Henderson and Maria Fassi. Spirit alumni have gone on to win more than 650 professional events, including 23 major championships.
 
The Spirit Golf Association, a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to the promotion of amateur golf for the benefit of health-related causes, organizes and oversees the tournament along with the Texas Golf Association.
 
The Spirit Golf Association has contributed more than $12 million to its charitable activities: The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship and healthcare service providers such as Baylor College of Medicine Teen Health Clinics, Medical Bridges and The Immunization Partnership. In 2017, The Spirit Golf Association responded to the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts by directing funds to Harvey victims through the United Way, Houston Food Bank, KIPP, Yellowstone Academy and the Baylor College of Medicine Teen Health Clinics.
 
For more information about The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship visit TheSpiritGolf.com.