Long Beach State senior and Big West Golfer of the Year Charlie Forster is set to compete for the international team at the 29th Arnold Palmer Cup at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, S.C., this week. 
 

The Ryder Cup-style competition features men’s and women’s collegiate golfers from the United States versus their international counterparts. The event begins with mixed four-ball matches on Thursday, June 5, with competition featuring foursomes and mixed foursomes on Friday. Saturday sees singles competition followed by awards. 
 

Each team consists of 12 men and 12 women, primarily selected by committee with a final pick made by each head coach. Co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), the Arnold Palmer Cup began in 1997. Forster is the first Long Beach State player to  
 

The Palmer Cup has been played at some of the world’s greatest courses, including The Old Course at St. Andrews, The Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Baltusrol, The Honors Course, and Cherry Hills. Beginning with the 2018 matches at Evian Resort Golf Club, the Palmer Cup is the only major tournament that features men and women playing side-by-side as partners. 
 

Forster led Long Beach State to a seventh NCAA Regional appearance and a Top 25 national ranking, a new high in the modern era for the program as well as a third-straight Big West Championship title in 2025. Averaging an under-par 70.0 strokes per round in 2024-25, the senior earned seven Top 10 finishes and two individual events wins on the season, including a fourth-place effort at The Big West Championship and a tie for eighth in the NCAA Urbana Regional in the postseason.   
 

Forster, who hails from Winchester, England, is just the second Big West player to be selected for the prestigious Arnold Palmer Cup, joining 2010 participant and three-time Big West Golfer of the Year John Chin of UC Irvine. Also making an appearance on former Cup rosters was previous Cal Poly women’s golf head coach Sofie Aagaard who served as an assistant coach for the international team in 2020 and head coach of the squad in 2021. 
 

In 2010, Chin’s United States team captured the Cup, 13-11, at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland. With Aagaard assisting, the international team took the honors in 2020 by a score of 40 ½ to 19 ½ at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando. 2021 saw the Cup return to the United States, with the US team winning three of the last four including back-to-back wins in 2023 and ’24. 
 

Learn more about the Arnold Palmer Cup here >>>