Bison alum has shot at elite golf team

BEATRICE, Neb. -- A member of the Southeast Community College golf team has been nominated to be part of an international elite team.

Noah Hofman, a first-year student from McCook, is being considered for the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup team. The team features some of the best collegiate golfers in the United States and Europe.

"It's an honor because of the elite nature of the Palmer Cup," Storm head golf coach Bill Campbell said. "The kids will be playing against peers from Europe and then traveling to Europe, and you're playing with the nation's elite players."

Campbell says he's never had a player considered for this team, and he ranks Hofman as being one of the top 10 players he's coached in his 31-year career at SCC.

"It's an honor just to be recognized," said Hofman.

Hofman is a lefty who won two state Class B individual golf titles at McCook High School, and also led his team to two state titles.

He also played on the Nebraska Golf Association Junior Kansas/Nebraska cup team for three years.

There will be 10-person teams from the United States and Europe who will compete against each other in Atlanta, Georgia, in June. The Arnold Palmer Cup ranking automatically qualifies the top six players for both sides and uses Golfstat's NCAA player ranking as a base. The remaining four will be selected using three committee picks and one coaches pick. One spot is reserved for a non-Division I golfer.

"The fact he's nominated speaks volumes," Campbell said.

The Arnold Palmer Cup started in 1997 when Palmer was approached to create an international collegiate event between the U.S., Great Britain and Ireland.

It started at the Bay Hill Club in Florida and has since been held at historic courses such as Royal Liverpool, Ballybunion, Whistling Straits, Glasgow Golf Club, and Formby Golf Club. The teams will be announced March 16. This year's event will be held at the Atlanta Athletic Club June 9-11.