AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn’s own Anna Davis, Josiah Gilbert and Cayden Pope will suit up to represent the United States of America in the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup, which is set for July 3-5 at Tralee Golf Links in Barrow, Ireland.
Davis leads the trio in international experience, as this will be her third summer playing for the Stars and Stripes. She also represented her country at the 2024 and 2026 Curtis Cups. Just last month, she helped Team USA to a 13-7 victory at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, California.
Gilbert is back for a second stint after representing the United States at last year's Palmer Cup, while Pope is set to make his international stage debut.
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 competition begins Friday with 12 groups of two-person teams competing in mixed four-ball matches. Saturday’s schedule includes one round of foursomes and one round of mixed foursomes, followed by a final round of singles matches on Sunday. Each match win is worth one point; ties are worth a half point.
During the 2025-26 season, Davis took home the individual title at three events, which helped her set the program record for career wins. The junior has now won six. Davis earned conference recognition for the third consecutive season in 2026, receiving Second Team All-SEC honors as well as Honorable Mention All-America honors from the WGCA and Golfweek.
In 13 tournaments, Davis recorded 12 rounds under par and a 71.09 scoring average.
Gilbert had another thrilling season on The Plains that featured career-best marks across the board. The junior averaged 70.19 strokes per round and paired it with two wins, six top 10s and eight top 20s. His victories came in the fall portion of last season at the Honors Course Invitational and at The Clerico. He went on to earn First Team All-SEC and Second Team All-America honors.
Like Gilbert, Pope also rolls into Ireland fresh off his hottest season of college golf. He averaged 70.81 strokes per round alongside three top 10s, eight top 20s and a season of captaincy on the Auburn squad, which resulted in the program’s second national title in two years. Pope was also voted Second Team All-SEC.
Both Pope and Gilbert won three of their five match play duels last season, pushing the Tigers to another SEC semifinals appearance as well as the NCAA Championship.
Live scoring will be available via Golf Genius. Golf Channel will live stream the majority of the tournament via the Golf Channel Mobile app and website. It will also be available to stream live on the Golf Channel YouTube page.
The Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America in 1997 at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida. The United States narrowly leads the series 14-13-1.
The event is supported by the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation, which provides a platform for advancing Palmer’s legacy of youth character development and support for amateur golf. More information is available at ArnoldPalmerCup.com.