Mills Named to United States Palmer Cup Team

April 25, 2012

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson junior Corbin Mills has been named to the United States Palmer Cup team. The Palmer Cup is an annual Ryder Cup-style competition between college age golfers from the United States and Europe. This year’s Palmer Cup will be held June 28-30 in Newcastle, Northern Ireland at Royal County Down Golf Club.

Mills will be joined on the team by Blayne Barber of Auburn, UNLV’s Derek Ernst, Patrick Rodgers and Andrew Yun of Stanford, Alabama’s Justin Thomas, James White of Georgia Tech and Washington’s Chris Williams comprise Team USA. Josh Gregory of SMU was previously announced as the United States Coach. Georgia Tech’s Christian Newton will serve as his assistant.

“I am very honored to coach the caliber of players on this team,” said Gregory. “We will be taking a team to Europe that has past Palmer Cup and Walker Cup experience, which will be a huge asset. We greatly look forward to the opportunity to bring the Cup back home to the U.S.”

The United States has an 8-6-1 lead in the series, including victories each of the last two years.

Mills will be the first Clemson golfer to play in the Palmer Cup since the summer of 2004 when Jack Ferguson was a member of the United States team that was coached by Clemson Head Coach Larry Penley.

Mills will be the ninth Clemson golfer to play in the Palmer Cup overall. Seven have played for the United States and two (Richard Coughlan and Michael Hoey) have played for the European team.

Jonathan Byrd, now in his 10th year on the PGA Tour, has been Clemson’s best golfer in the Palmer Cup with a 7-0-1 career record, including a 4-0 mark in 1999. He is one of 13 golfers in the history of the event to post a perfect 4-0 mark. D.J. Trahan was captain of the US team in 2002 and posted a 3-0-1 record, helping the US to a victory. John Engler played in the Palmer Cup from 1999-2001 and is the only Clemson golfer to play in three different Palmer Cups. Lucas Glover posted a 3-1 record in 2001.

Mills will take part in the Palmer Cup nearly a full month after the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament. So far this year he has a 70.96 stroke average, on pace to be the fifth best in Clemson history. He is currently ranked as the fifth best United States amateur.

He is the reigning champion of the United States Public Links Championship, a victory that qualified him for the 2012 Masters, and the reigning champion of the Players Amateur. He won the Jerry Pate Invitational this past October. He is the top player on Clemson’s 19th ranked team that awaits an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Bids will be extended on May 7.