The USA Palmer Cup team (Adam Mackey/Palmer Cup Photo)

“I was really nervous going up 18,” said Stone, who was selected to Team USA when the Palmer Cup was slated to be held at Lahinch Golf Club in 2020 before the matches were rescheduled to Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge and also won the Palmer Cup with Team USA in 2021 at Rich Harvest Farms. “Having my coach walking by me and seeing all of my teammates sitting on the green waiting for me to come up was really special. What a way to end my career with my two coaches from LSU.”

The day’s first match in was Match 40 between the top-ranked male amateur in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Gordon Sargent, and Team International’s Bastien Amat. Sargent recorded six birdies, an eagle, and no bogeys to claim his ninth career Palmer Cup victory 5&4.

Team International got a run of early wins, including from Josele Ballester (4&2), Calum Scott (1UP), Filip Jakubcik (1UP), and Santiago de la Fuente (4&2).

“I hit it pretty well off the tee, so I was always in the fairway and in a good position to put pressure on from the beginning,” said de la Fuente. “With how tight the scoreboard was today, one point can make a difference in winning the Cup.”

Team USA’s Anna Davis recorded a hole in one on the par-3, 175-yard 16th hole (seventh hole of Match 48) against Team International’s Paula Martín Sampedro.

“I haven’t had a hole in one since I was about eight years old,” Davis said. The 10-year drought is over!” 

Crowd favorite Mary Kelly Mulcahy used five birdies en route to her 2&1 victory over Ireland and Team International’s Kate Lanigan in Match 42.

“I got down a couple early but stayed mentally confident,” said Mulcahy. “I think that I was the strongest mentally today of the entire week.”

Mulcahy, the University of Findlay’s first Palmer Cup participant who set the program and Great Midwest Conference record for single-season scoring average in 2023-24, is the first non-Division I selection in Palmer Cup history to go undefeated (4-0).

“I’ve been working towards getting here for months and believed that I prepared the right way,” she continued. “Knowing that, I was able to come here with confidence and just enjoy the experience.” 

The win was USA’s first on international soil since 2018 at Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains, France, and second since 2010 at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Portrush, Northern Ireland.