Tennessee’s Caleb Surratt named to 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup.
Tennessee freshman golfer Caleb Surratt has been named to the Arnold Palmer Cup.
Surratt is one of 12 golfers to compete for Team USA against a 12-member international team June 8-10 at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.
The Arnold Palmer Cup is an annual team competition for collegiate golfers and has been contested since 2018 between a United States and an international team. Teams consist of 12 men’s and women’s golfers.
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Surratt is the first Vol selected to the Arnold Palmer Cup since Lorenzo Scalise was selected to compete for the international team in 2018.
Tennessee head coach Brennan Webb, a native of Canada, will be an assistant coach for the 2023 international team.
Tennessee head coach Brennan Webb named assistant coach for Arnold Palmer Cup.
Tennessee men’s golf head coach Brennan Webb has been named an assistant coach for the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup international team by the GCAA.
Webb is a native of Canada.
The event will take place June-8-10 at Laurel Valley Country Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.
Top collegiate men’s and women’s golfers from the United States will compete against a team of international players in a Ryder Cup format.
The Arnold Palmer Cup is the only event to feature men and women golfers competing side-by-side as partners.
Tennessee is ranked No. 7 in the GCAA Coaches Poll after recording consecutive victories at the SEC Match Play Championships and the Purdue Fall Invitational.
The coaching staffs for the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup at Laurel Valley Golf Club are coming together.
Kortnie Maxoutopoulis Barrett and Matt Clark will serve as the United States assistant coaches in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and the International assistant coaches will be Rhyll Brinsmead and Brennan Webb.
Barrett joined San Jose State in January 2021 as an assistant coach. She was instrumental in their success in 2021-22, as the Spartans won the 2022 Mountain West championship and were the only school outside of the Power 5 to advance to the NCAA Championships, where they finished seventh in stroke play and advanced to match play for the first time in program history. The Pleasanton, California, native played at TCU for three seasons after one year at Rutgers. While at TCU, she competed in 24 events and earned three top-10 finishes, including third at the 2015 Big 12 Championship. Barrett was a 2011-12 Big East All-Academic honoree and had seven top-10 finishes at Rutgers, including three wins.
Clark won the 2022 Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award presented by TaylorMade in his sixth season in Chapel Hill and first as associate head coach. North Carolina won three tournaments, including its first two tournaments of the season, for the first time since 1996, and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the second-straight season in 2021-22. After a playing career at South Florida (1993-94) and Alabama (1995-97), Clark began his coaching career as an assistant for six seasons in Tuscaloosa, where he worked for Palmer Cup alumni and GCAA Hall of Famers Dick Spybey and Jay Seawell.
Brinsmead is the head women’s coach at Minnesota, where she started in January 2021. In her first two seasons, she led the Gophers to two top-five and eight top-10 finishes while four individuals picked up their own top-10 finishes. This fall, Minnesota captured second place at the Evie Odom Invitational after rallying in the third round with a record-breaking 17-under par performance in which all five players shot par or better for the first time in program history. The Melbourne, Australia, native, was also a P.J. Boatright intern through the USGA with the Central Texas Junior Golf Association, launching the region’s LPGA-USGA Junior Girls Golf Club and leading the ‘Hook a Kid on Golf’ junior camp.
In four and a half seasons at Tennessee, Webb has led the Volunteers to seven tournament victories, including the 2022 SEC Match Play Championship, their first NCAA Championships berth in eight years in 2021, and three PING All-America honorees. A Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada, native, Webb played collegiately at East Tennessee State, winning three Southern Conference championships and helping the Bucs finish third at the 1996 NCAA Championship. He then competed professionally in 11 different countries and as a fully-exempt member on the Web.com Tour.
The Arnold Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men’s and women’s college golfers matching the United States against a team of International players. The U.S. leads the Palmer Cup series, 13-12-1.
Tennessee men’s golf head coach Brennan Webb announced the signing of Josh Hill with the Vols. At 15 years old, Hill beat Brooks Koepka in a practice match.
Tennessee men’s golf head coach Brennan Webb announced the signing of Josh Hill on Monday.
“We are extremely excited to add one of the best young players in the world to our 2022 recruiting class,” Webb said in a UT press release. “Josh has demonstrated the ability to compete with the best in the world at the junior, amateur and professional levels all before his 18th birthday.
“His wealth of experience competing around the world will be a tremendous asset as he begins his career at the University of Tennessee this fall.”
A native of Dubai, Hill is currently ranked the No. 68 amateur golfer in the world by World Amateur Golf Ranking. He is the third-highest ranked player under 18 years old.
Though just 17 years old, Hill already boasts a full resume. As a 15-year-old in October 2019, Hill became the youngest player to ever win a professional golf tournament that awards Official World Golf Ranking points—claiming the title at the Al Ain Open on the MENA Tour.
A few months later prior to the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Hill defeated four-time Major champion Brooks Koepka in a nine-hole practice round.
Earlier this year in January, Hill continued to bolster his amateur resume by making the cut in back-to-back weeks on the European Tour at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the Dubai Desert Classic.
Hill’s other amateur highlights include a fourth-place finish at the 2021 St. Andrews Links Trophy—where he finished just one stroke shy of a playoff—and advancing to the round of 32 at the 126th British Amateur Championship last June.
Hill joins a 2022 class for Tennessee that already includes Caleb Surratt, Bruce Murphy and Evan Woosley-Reed. Prior to the addition of Hill, Tennessee’s 2022 class was ranked No. 5 in the nation by Golf Channel.
Brennan Webb is in his third season as Tennessee’s head men’s golf coach.
He has led the Vols to five team tournament titles during his first two completed seasons. Tennessee will compete in the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship (March 26-28) and the Shoal Creek Invitational (April 5-7) before the Southeastern Conference Championship takes place April 21-25.
Ahead of the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship, Webb discussed the success of Tennessee’s golf program during his three seasons with Vols Wire.
“I think we are finally getting to where we want it, how we envisioned it being when we got here three years ago,” Webb told Vols Wire. “At the time, I think it was going to be a larger project than it has turned out to be. We are happy with how fast things have turned around, to where we feel now that we are one of the elite teams in the country and certainly have a chance to win the SEC championship.
“Any time you have a chance to win the SEC championship, you have a chance to win the national championship. We have just been working hard and guys are being coachable and listening to us and they are anxious to see what the opportunities lie ahead.”
The premier college golf facility in the nation is right here on Rocky Top.
Part of Tennessee’s success as a program under Webb has been due to having a practice facility and clubhouse that helps his players improve.
The Blackburn-Furrow Golf Clubhouse provides immediate access to the Mack & Jonnie Day Golf Practice Facility, a 28-acre and $4.5 million design.
“We just opened the clubhouse last fall, it’s a fantastic facility,” Webb said. “It is definitely everything that you need to get better at golf. It certainly has helped a lot in recruiting and will continue to help in recruiting.
“We are going to continue to find ways to make it even more efficient for day-to-day use and give the guys everything they need.”
Hole No. 1 – Par 4, 450 yards maximum length. Green surrounded by three bunkers with an 11,000 square-foot putting surface. Also doubles as a pitching green from in front of the No. 2 tee, with shots ranging from 60-100 yards.
Hole No. 2 – Par 3, 120 yards maximum length. Severely sloped green from back to front has a 10,000 square-foot putting surface. Also guarded by three bunkers.
Hole No. 3 – Par 4, 430 yards maximum length. Signature hole along the banks of the Tennessee River. Plays to a narrow fairway that slopes from right to left, with a bunker in play down the right-hand side. Severely sloped green has a 10,000 square-foot putting surface that also doubles as another chipping area with a variety of outstanding bunker shots.
Putting Green – 11,000 square feet, designed with a great deal of slope on one side of the green while being relatively flat on the other side.
Chipping/Pitching Green – 10,600 square feet, designed with numerous uneven lies in mind. Also includes two practice bunkers.
Practice Tee – 100 yards by 50 yards (approximately the size of a regulation football field).
Grass – 419 Bermuda fairways and A-1 Bentgrass greens, with three of the newest varieties of A-1 Bentgrass on the market today. The sand used is the same type Augusta National Golf Club uses in its bunkers.
The approximately 8,300-square-foot Blackburn-Furrow Golf Clubhouse features a 1,000-square-foot hitting bay equipped with Trackman, swing analysis technology, video capabilities and a Putt View virtual-putting green. The facility houses team locker rooms, meeting areas, a team lounge and coaches’ offices. There is also more than 1,200 square feet of outdoor deck and patio space for recruiting and entertaining.
Each student-athlete has their own designated locker, which features a cushioned, pullout bench and additional storage space for gear and equipment. Inside each locker is a private safe for additional security of individual belongings.
Brennan Webb watches his shot during the second round of the Nationwide Tour Players Cup at Pete Dye Golf Club on June 26, 2009 in Bridgeport, West Virginia. (Photo by Chris Keane/Getty Images)
Webb has a history throughout the Volunteer State.
A native of Canada, he played at East Tennessee State and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance in 1997. He helped the Buccaneers to a No. 1 ranking nationally and finished third in the NCAA championship during his junior season.
After college, Webb played professionally before becoming a coach.
He was fully-exempt on the PGA Web.com Tour in 2009, recording three top-25 finishes. Webb competed in the Zurich Classic on the PGA Tour in 2010. His professional wins took place in the 2010 Coors Light Open, along with victories on the Hooters Tour and in Canada.
Webb became an assistant coach at South Florida in Sept. 2011 before joining Georgia Tech’s program in the same capacity during Dec. 2012.
He would leave Georgia Tech for his first head coaching position at Middle Tennessee State in Aug. 2015. In three seasons with the Blue Raiders, Middle Tennessee State recorded 14 top-five finishes, four first-place decisions and won the 2018 Conference USA championship.
Webb currently has a roster of all Tennesseans except for two student-athletes who are from England.
“The Tennessee Golf Foundation and the Tennessee Golf Association does a phenomenal job giving young Tennesseans an opportunity to start competing in golf right away,” Webb said of recruiting within Tennessee. “I think that translated into guys that are ready to play at the highest level of college golf. You can certainly build a great team with people from Tennessee and we will continue to recruit the ones that can play at the elite level that is required to play here, and continue to recruit nationally with the highest level of players.
“We now offer them everything they need and have proven over the last couple of years that we can compete with some of these teams that maybe Tennessee was not recruiting against before. We are going to keep doing it that way, and we may dip our toes in the water internationally here and there, but right now we are going to concentrate on Tennessee and surrounding states, trying to become the best program we can.”
It is finally Friday, and a slow one at that, as the Tennessee Volunteers football team head into a bye weekend before embarking to Columbia, Mo. to face the Missouri Tigers. In the meantime, the Lady Vols basketball team trounced Tennessee State last night, while the men gear up to take on the No. 20-ranked Washington Huskies on Saturday. But Tennessee athletics is more than just the major sports, and the others are the focus of today’s UT News.
Jackson Skeen, a Jonesboro, Tenn. native, is a top-150 ranked player in the 2020 class according to Junior Golf Scoreboard. He had a successful amateur career so far, including the 2018 TSSAA Class AAA Individual Championship as well as All-State honors in 2016 and 2018.
“Jackson (Skeen) has had a very successful career competing at the highest levels of junior golf and we are thrilled to add another Tennessee junior golfer to our roster,” Coach Webb said.
George Saunders comes from across the pond in Southampton, England, arriving in Knoxville after back-to-back top-20 finishes at the English Men’s Amateur. His addition to the program follows a long lineage of Vol golfers who hail from the UK.
“George will bring a wealth of experience to our roster, which will be important as we will lose eight upperclassmen in the next two years,” Coach Webb said. “He has had a tremendous amount of success in amateur golf around the world, as well as college golf the last two years at Midland.”
The two are promising additions to a storied program and will get their chance to contribute next season.
