Alabama junior Davis Riley is ranked No. 1 in the first Arnold Palmer Cup Rankings of the spring season, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced Thursday.

Riley is coming off an outstanding fall season, finishing as the top-ranked golfer in the nation according to Golfstat.com. The Hattiesburg, Miss., native finished in the top-10 in each of the Crimson Tide’s four tournaments during the fall, placing no lower than seventh in any event. He claimed his first career medalist honor when he captured the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational on Sept. 17 with career-low 54-hole score of 7-under par 200.

Riley enters the spring portion of the season in contention for spots on the United States team that will participate in the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup, July 6-8, at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France. The top six men’s collegiate golfers in the final spring Arnold Palmer Cup Rankings will join the top six-ranked women’s collegiate golfers as part of the 24-player United States squad that will compete against a team of international college golfers.

Alabama claimed the top spot on the women’s side of the Arnold Palmer Cup Rankings, as junior Lauren Stephenson is ranked No. 1 while sophomore Kristen Gillman checked in at No. 5, which were also released on Thursday.

Using Golfstat’s NCAA Player Ranking as a base, the Arnold Palmer Cup Ranking awards bonus points for wins and high finishes and a penalty for poor finishes. The ranking also contains a strength of schedule component.

The remaining 12 spots for the United States (six men, six women) will consist of five committee selections, including at least one non-Division I golfer, and a coaches pick. The balance of the International team will include the men’s and women’s winners of The R&A Scholars Tournament, four committee selections and a coaches pick. Alabama assistant women’s golf coach Susan Rosenstiel will serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. team.

Subsequent ratings will be released on Feb. 22 and March 8 with the squad being announced March 15 during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The Arnold Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style tournament co-founded by Arnold Palmer and The Golf Coaches Association of America in 1997. From 1997-2017, the tournament featured teams of men’s collegiate golfers representing the United States and Europe. The 2018 edition of the Arnold Palmer Cup will be the first to using the expanded format of United States men’s and women’s collegiate golfers facing their counterparts from around the world.

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