W&L’s Jonathan McEwen ’27 Selected to Represent Team USA in 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup

Athletics Communications
May 6, 2026

The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced that Washington and Lee University's Jonathan McEwen '27 was among 24 collegiate golfers selected to the Team USA roster for the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup.

A business administration major and native of Portsmouth, Virginia, McEwen is the lone NCAA Division III representative for either Team USA or Team International at this year's event. He is just the fourth Division III player ever selected to compete in the Arnold Palmer Cup, joining Anthony Maccaglia (Oglethorpe, 2014), Alex Price (Christopher Newport, 2023) and Jackson Klutznick (Emory, 2024). As a group, the Division III players have posted a 3-7-2 record at the event.

The Arnold Palmer Cup, co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the GCAA, is a Ryder Cup-style tournament that features the top men's and women's collegiate golfers, pitting Team USA against an international squad. This year marks the 30th edition of the event, with the U.S. holding a 15-13-1 advantage in the all-time series.

Ranked No. 1 in Division III for more than one calendar year, McEwen has put together an outstanding 2025-26 campaign, capturing three tournament victories while posting an adjusted scoring average of 68.3 across 24 rounds. His wins came at the Gate City Invitational (North Carolina), Savannah Invitational (Georgia) and ODAC Championship, where he secured his second consecutive conference title. He also tied program records for low round (64) and low round versus par (-8), while setting a new 54-hole program record (-14) at the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational (Georgia).

McEwen received the Jack Nicklaus Award as the Division III Player of the Year in 2025 and was presented with the Phil Mickelson Award as the Division III Outstanding Freshman player in 2024. A two-time First Team All-American, he tied for 11th at the NCAA Division III National Championship as a first-year and finished 10th as a sophomore last spring. McEwen and his teammates open play at the 2026 NCAA Championship on May 12 at the Mission Resort + Club in Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida.

The 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup will be held at Tralee Golf Club in West Barrow, Ireland, June 29 through July 5. McEwen and Team USA will kick off the event on July 3 with a match-play format that runs through July 5. Team International defeated Team USA 35-25 in last year's Palmer Cup at the Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina.

Tralee was the first European course Arnold Palmer designed, and it is widely regarded as one of the premier links courses in the world, known for its dramatic coastal layout and memorable holes.

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