BATON ROUGE – Three current LSU golfers will represent their respective countries starting on Thursday in the 2024 Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship at the Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas.
The three-day event involves men’s and women’s stroke play over 54 holes with each country playing two men and two women in both team and individual competition. There will also be a combined team event involving the four players on the team.
Seniors Aine Donegan and Algot Kleen and junior Matthew Dodd-Berry will represent the Tigers in the 11th championship that remains one of the top showcase events for the world’s amateur.
The last competition was held in 2021 with the United States winning the International and Women’s Team event, while Sweden took the men’s title.
Donegan will serve as the playing captain for the Irish team and she is ranked 73 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Donegan was part of the winning Great Britain and Ireland team that captured the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale in England, late in August.
Donegan is joined by her fellow Curtis Cup member Beth Coulter and they will be off in the opening foursome on the first tee at 8:30 a.m.
Kleen, who has posted a course record 9-under 63 at The Blessings and has a tournament win in the fall after transferring from East Tennessee. He will represent the defending men’s championship team from Sweden. Kleen is ranked 43 in the world rankings and No. 11 on the PGA Tour U standings board.
Kleen is teaming with Jakob Melin and the two Swedes will go off at 9:06 a.m. off the first tee.
Matthew Dodd-Berry will represent his home country of England in the event. Dodd-Berry qualified and played in the 2024 Open Championship in Scotland after a 2023-24 All-Southern Conference season at East Tennessee. He has posted one top 10 finish after transferring to LSU for his third year of college golf.
Dodd-Berry will team with Dominic Clemons on the men’s English team and they will go off at 9:54 a.m.
The event features players from 20 countries, representing six continents. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded to the top three finishers in each division. The teams will play a 54-hole four-ball stroke play competition.
Live scoring can be found at www.thespiritgolf.com.