Just two weeks after the announcement of the head coaches for the 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup at Ireland’s Lahinch Golf Club, the four assistant coaches were named on Thursday morning.
Texas women’s golf associate head coach Kate Golden and newly-promoted Arizona State men’s associate head coach Armen Kirakossian join the United States team along with Cal Poly women’s head coach Sofie Aagaard (Sweden) and Barry Fennelly (Ireland) of Maynooth University on the International side.
“I love team golf, so to be named as an assistant coach of the U.S. team at the Arnold Palmer Cup is a special honor,” said Kirakossian. “Anytime you can be associated with anything that has Arnold Palmer’s name on it is a big deal and I can’t wait to get out to Lahinch GC in July.”
The Arnold Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style tournament that pits the top university/college golfers from the United States against an International Team and has been a co-ed event since 2018. Team USA leads the series 12-10-1 and the 2020 matches are scheduled for July 3-5.
Golden is one of the most accomplished golfers in University of Texas history and was an 18-year LPGA veteran. Kirakossian joined the Arizona State staff as assistant in August 2017 and was promoted to Associate Head Coach earlier this week. Kirakossian earned the Golf Coaches Association of America’s Strickland Award as the most outstanding assistant coach in college golf last season.
Aagaard was named head coach at Cal Poly in July 2015 and led the Mustangs to a second-place finish in the Big West Conference Championship in her first year. Fennelly is currently in his ninth season as the head coach of both the men’s and women’s programs at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
