Wake Forest duo heading to play in the Palmer Cup in early July

Sophomore Chloe Kovelesky and junior Macy Pate of Wake Forest have been picked for Team USA for the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup scheduled for early July in Ireland.

The duo, who also played in the Augusta National Women's Amateur, will head overseas for the prestigious tournament slated for July 3-5 at Tralee Golf Links in West Barrow, Ireland.

"I'm so excited to represent the USA and Wake Forest at the Palmer Cup for my second time," said Pate, a Reagan High School graduate. "The Palmer Cup is such a unique and special opportunity to be able to compete with great college players from other universities that we usually don't get to see outside of golf."

This will be Kovelsky's first time in the Palmer Cup, which is named for Wake Forest legend Arnold Palmer.

"I am also looking forward to sharing this moment with my teammate and close friend Chloe as we get to travel to Ireland together and compete alongside each other," Pate said.

Wake Forest has had at least one women's golfer selected every year since the Palmer Cup expanded to include international and women's competitors in 2018. Pate's first selection was in 2025, competing against international member Carolina Chacarra.

Pate captured her first collegiate win at the 2025 Jackson T. Stephens Cup with a career-low 54-hole score of 8-under pat 202 to secure the win. She placed in the top 25 throughout all spring competitions, including back-to-back top-10 finishes at Moon Golf Invitational and Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.

Kovelesky marks her first selection to the tournament, building off a strong freshman semester that she continued into her sophomore year. The 2025 honorable mention All-American opened the year with first place co-medalist honors at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, followed by a career low 54-hole total of 4 under par 206 to take second behind Pate at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup.

The Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and began at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida, in 1997. The event is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men's and women's university/college golfers matching the U.S. against a team of international players.

The Palmer Cup has been played at some of the world's greatest courses, including The Old Course at St. Andrews, The Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Baltusrol, The Honors Course, Cherry Hills, and Lahinch. Beginning with the 2018 matches at Evian Resort Golf Club, the Palmer Cup is the only major tournament that features men and women playing side-by-side as partners.

Since its inception, over 250 former Arnold Palmer Cup alumni have gone on to earn cards on the PGA, DP World, or LPGA Tours; 46 have represented Europe/International or the USA in the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, or Solheim Cup and more than 100 have claimed over 450 victories on the PGA, DP World, LPGA, or Ladies European Tours. The U.S. leads the Palmer Cup series, 15-13-1.

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