LSU Golfers Rocio Tejedo, Algot Kleen Named To European Squads For January Event

BATON ROUGE – LSU women’s golf freshman Rocio Tejedo and men’s golf senior Algot Kleen have been named by the European Golf Association to teams for the Patsy Hankins and Bonallack matches scheduled for January in the United Arab Emirates.

The European squad will take on an Asia-Pacific team at Al Hamra Golf Club, Jan. 8-10, 2025. The matches are biennial for elite amateurs and played in similar fashion and formats to the Solheim and Ryder Cup events that involve professionals from the United States and Europe.

The young LSU star, whose older sister Carla concluded four years at LSU in May 2024, is one of 10 announced players for the European squad to date by Captain Myrte Eikenaar of the Netherlands, who led the Europeans to victory in the last match in Spain.

Rocio Tejedo is one of five players in the initial selections to be a part of the winning the 2023 Patsy Hankins Trophy.

Tejedo is ranked 36th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and 26th in the Scoreboard/Clippd NCAA performance rankings after her fifth-place finish in the Stanford Intercollegiate in the team’s most recent outing.

Kleen is on of eight players named for the Bonallack Trophy team for Europe, a squad that has seen the likes of future pros Rory McIlroy, John Rahm, Shane Lowery and Justin Rose represent the European side in the match.

Joachim Fourquet will be the non-playing captain. The former French international has led the European Jacques Leglise Trophy team to four consecutive victories in the junior match with Great Britain and Ireland and will lead the European men’s team for the first time in January.

The Europeans will be trying to win the cup back from Asia-Pacific, who triumphed in the last two matches.

Kleen is ranked No. 5 in the NCAA performance rankings and like Tejedo, is 36th in the World Amateur Rankings. He won his first tournament after transferring to LSU in the Visit Knoxville Collegiate and followed that up with a second-place finish in The Blessings Collegiate where he finished with a course record 9-under 63 in the final round.

Kleen, from Sweden, is presently ranked No. 11 in the 2024-25 PGA Tour University Rankings.

The Patsy Hankins Trophy is named after Patsy Hankins, a former golf administrator from New Zealand. The 2025 match will be the fourth edition between the two sides since its inauguration in 2016, with Asia-Pacific having two victories, with Europe the current holder of the trophy.

The Bonallack Trophy is named after Sir Michael Bonallack, one of the most decorated amateur players of all time and a former Captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. The Englishmen won the Amateur Championship five times and played in nine Walker Cups. This will be the 12th edition of the Bonallack trophy with the Europeans leading, 7-4.

Each trophy will feature five foursomes matches and five fourball matches each of the first two days and then 12 singles matches on the final day of competition. It will take 16.5 points to win the trophy.