Two starts on the PGA Tour.
A strong fall season in South Bend.
Now, this?
Palmer Jackson continues his meteoric rise in college golf and an invitation to a Walker Cup practice is another point of validation.
Jackson, a senior at Notre Dame and a Franklin Regional graduate, will join 15 other current and former college players at a “tryout” for the U.S. Walker Cup team Dec. 15-18 in Jupiter, Fla.
The U.S. will play against a team from Great Britain and Ireland on Sept. 2-3, 2023 at St. Andrews, Scotland. The USGA’s International Team Selection Committee sent out the invitations.
The practice does not guarantee a spot in the team for the players, and it is not an end-all for selection. It is part of the evaluation process.
In 2020, 10 of the 16 invitees made the team and played in the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club in Florida.
Jackson, 21, is No. 20 in the PGA Tour University Velocity Global Rankings and 43rd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He finished in the top 20 in five college events this fall season for the Fighting Irish.
The two-day Walker Cup features 18 singles matches and eight foursome, alternate-shot matches. The competition, played in odd-numbered years, started in 1922. The U.S. is 38-9-1 since.
Jackson, who played on the U.S. Arnold Palmer Cup team in July in Switzerland — he is named after the legendary “King” from Latrobe — is competing this week at the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic in St. Simons Island, Ga.
He earned a sponsor exemption by winning the Jones Cup at Ocean Forest Golf Club.
He also played in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship last month. He missed the cut but said he gained valuable experience being around professionals who compete at the highest level of the game.
Here are the 16 amateur players invited to the Walker Cup practice:
Evan Beck, 32, of Virginia Beach, Va. (Wake Forest, class of 2013)
Michael Brennan, 20, of Leesburg, Va. (Wake Forest, junior)
David Ford, 20, of Peachtree Corners, Ga. (North Carolina, sophomore)
Nicholas Gabrelcik, 20, of Trinity, Fla. (North Florida, junior)
Stewart Hagestad, 31, of Newport Beach, Calif. (Southern Cal, class of 2013)
Derek Hitchner, 23, of Minneapolis, Minn. (Pepperdine, graduate student)
Palmer Jackson, 21, of Murrysville, Pa. (Notre Dame, senior)
Benjamin James, 17, of Milford, Conn. (Virginia, freshman)
Bryce Lewis, 22, of Hendersonville, Tenn. (Tennessee, junior)
Dylan Menante, 21, of Carlsbad, Calif. (North Carolina, senior)
Maxwell Moldovan, 20, of Uniontown, Ohio (Ohio State, junior)
Gordon Sargent, 19, of Birmingham, Ala. (Vanderbilt, sophomore)
Cole Sherwood, 20, of Austin, Texas (Vanderbilt, senior)
Ross Steelman, 21, of Atlanta, Ga. (Georgia Tech, senior)
Caleb Surratt, 18, of Indian Trail, N.C. (Tennessee, freshman)
Michael Thorbjornsen, 21, of Wellesley, Mass. (Stanford, junior)
