Coach with La Conner, Irish links to lead Team USA golfers at Palmer Cup

A member of La Conner’s O’Leary family will coach Team USA golfers at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup in Ireland next summer.

Matt Thurmond, a son of La Conner High School alums Kathy O’Leary Thurmond and the late Joe Thurmond, was chosen last month to be the head coach at the three-day competition on Ireland’s west coast next July.

Thurmond is head coach of the Arizona State University men’s golf team. He previously guided the University of Washington men.

The Arnold Palmer Cup features the best men’s and women’s collegiate golfers against their international counterparts in an event played annually since 1997.

Given his O’Leary roots, Thurmond is especially grateful for having been selected to coach on Irish soil for the prestigious Palmer Cup.

“I’m so excited to coach at the Arnold Palmer Cup,” said Thurmond, who has numerous La Conner area relatives through his O’Leary lineage.

“It’s such an honor,” he stressed, “to represent Mr. Palmer, the country, college golf and Arizona State University at such an amazing event.”

Under Thurmond, the ASU men have finished in the top five at the last three NCAA championships, placing second to the University of Texas in 2022.

Thurmond was the 2009 National Coach of the Year while at the Husky helm. He twice earned top conference coaching honors.

“I’m mighty proud of my nephew,” Thurmond’s aunt, Maureen O’Leary Harlan, told the Weekly News upon his selection to lead Team USA at scenic Lahinch Golf Club, known internationally as the “St. Andrews of Ireland.”

“This is a really big deal to me,” Thurmond said in an interview with TheSunDevils.com, “and I’m hoping some of our Devils will be competing with me.”