Steve Desimone, who has been the men’s golf coach at the University of California for 35 years, has been selected to coach the United States team against Great Britain and Ireland in the 2014 Palmer Cup.
The annual Ryder Cup-style competition will be played June 26-28 on the Old Course at the Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England.
“I’m honored to be a part of the Palmer Cup as a member of the GCAA and representing the USA,” Desimone said. “This news definitely has me smiling. I’ve worked with collegiate players for 35 years and I’m looking forward to this opportunity.
“I know this is going to be a lot of fun with plenty of great golf and serious competition. All in all, it should be a wonderful experience. Go USA.”
Desimone guided Cal to its only NCAA Championship in 2004 and earned the 2013 Dave Williams Award as the national coach of the year, and has been Pacific 12 Conference coach of the year each of the last two seasons and three times in his career.
Cal has won 21-of-33 stroke-play events since the beginning of the 2011-12 season and finish in the top five in all 33 of those tournaments, plus its four match-play events during that time.
The Golden Bears reached the national semifinals each of the last two seasons, in addition to winning two straight NCAA Regionals and Pac-12 Championships, and was first at the end of stroke play at the 2013 NCAA Championship before losing in the match-play semifinals to Illinois.
Despite losing to the Illini, Cal was ranked No. 1 in the final Golfweek and Golfstat polls.
The Bears won three of five events this fall, finishing third and fourth in the other two tournaments, and are ranked No. 4 in the nation.
Desimone is a member of the Northern California Golf Association’s Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014 and will be inducted during the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association’s 55th annual event at Spanish Bay on Feb. 4.
Last year, he became the first coach to earn the CGWBA’s Jack Lemmon Ambassador of Golf Award.
Desimone was a high school basketball star at Arroyo High in San Lorenzo, and helped the Dons to a famous upset of powerhouse McClymonds of Oakland in the 1966 Tournament of Champions before going to Cal in a basketball scholarship.
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