OC’s Norby, three OSU golfers love Palmer Cup experience
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. (June 13, 2021) – When Trevor Norby arrived sight-unseen at Oklahoma Christian in 2018, few could have imagined what he’d achieve over the next three years for OC golf – five individual tournament wins, two team conference championships and two (soon to be three) All-America honors being among his many accomplishments.
He capped his OC experience – and his time as an amateur golfer – on Sunday by making another outstanding memory, celebrating as part of the winning U.S. team in the Arnold Palmer Cup at Rich Harvest Farms.
The U.S. squad of elite collegiate players finished off a 33-27 win over an International team that also included the best of the best collegians from the rest of the world who attend U.S. universities. It was the first win for the U.S. team since 2019 and it gave the Americans a 13-11-1 lead in the annual event.
Norby contributed the first point toward the U.S. overall score on Friday before falling in three close matches the rest of the weekend, including a tough 2-and-1 loss to Pontus Nyholm of Campbell in a singles match on Sunday. But Norby, the only male NCAA Division II player on the U.S. roster, said he learned a lot about himself during the Palmer Cup – namely, that he belonged and could play at the high level necessary to be competitive during the event.
“This was so much fun,” Norby said. “To come out and represent the United States of America and hit the golf shots that I hit and execute when I needed to – I proved to myself that I’m going to be good enough. The experience of playing in the Arnold Palmer Cup is something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life. I had so much fun this week!
“It’s been a very, very long road. But to end it with this exclamation point is something I will remember forever. It’s a foundation that I can leap off of going into the future.”
The competition in the Palmer Cup is fierce, as Norby experienced first-hand. A day after facing the No. 18 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, David Puig of Arizona State, in a mixed fourball match, Norby on Sunday took on another of the world’s outstanding amateurs, No. 75-ranked Nyholm, who’s from Sweden and was the Big South Conference player of the year at Campbell. The two went to the 17th hole before Nyholm won the tightly contested match.
A pro golf career awaits for Norby, who will play in a qualifier for the Texas State Open on Tuesday in Flower Mound, Texas. He hopes to follow in the path of another OC golf legend, Rhein Gibson, who now is in his second stint on the PGA Tour. It’s a different path than Norby imagined when he started his college career six years ago at San Diego State, but it’s worked so far for him.
“It was a leap of faith to come to OC, that’s for sure,” he said. “I had a really, really good friend, Casey Rebmann, who was there and he talked you guys up. He was not lying at all. It’s a great program and a great school and I’m proud to call myself an Eagle!”
A trio of Oklahoma State golfers wrapped up play on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Cup with the Cowboy duo of Eugenio Chacarra and Bo Jin as well as Cowgirl standout Isabella Fierro all competing for the International side at Rich Harvest Farms.
Despite the trio’s combined 7-2-1 record over the course of the three-day, four-session event, the Americans won the event by a 33-27 count.
During Friday’s mixed fourball action, Chacarra teamed with Fierro to take down Brooke Matthews and Dylan Menante, 5 and 3. Jin was paired with Karen Fredgaard for the session and fell to Jacob Bridgeman and Irene Kim, 4 and 3.
The OSU threesome went unbeaten during Saturday’s two sessions, combining for a 4-0-1 mark. The morning’s foursome session saw Chacarra and Yuxin Lin defeat Jacob Bridgeman and Ryan Hall, 3 and 2. Jin got on the board with partner Joe Pagdin, defeating Nick Gabrelcik and Trent Phillips, 3 and 1.
Fierro and Karen Fredgaard battled back to take the final three holes to tie their match with Julia Johnson and Latanna Stone.
The afternoon’s mixed foursomes saw Chacarra and Fierro team up one again on their way to a 3 and 2 victory over Allisen Corpuz and Benjamin Shipp.
JIn and Fredgaard were paired together and emerged with a 1-up win over Matthews and William Moll.
Fierro added another point for the International side during Sunday’s singles action with a 2&1 win over Kate Smith. With her victory, Fierro finished with a 3-0-1 mark for the event.
In a battle of first-team All-Americans, Chacarra took down Pierceson Coody, 3&1, to wrap up play with a 4-0 record.
Jin closed out play with a 3&2 loss to Brad Reeves to finish the event with a 2-2 mark.