Kudos to University of Washington head coach Matt Thurmond, who recently was named the head coach of Team USA for this summer’s Palmer Cup, the annual Ryder Cup-style showcase matching up the top collegiate golfers from the United States and Europe. Coaching the U.S. squad is about the highest honor an American collegiate coach can receive, so it was certainly big news when the announcement was made in January. Not that it was a surprise — in seven years at Washington, Thurmond has taken the Huskies to six top-11 finishes at the NCAA Championships and coached UW’s first-ever individual NCAA Men’s Golf Champion, James Lepp, in 2005. In fact, it was during that 2005 season – when the Huskies placed a program-best third at NCAAs as a team – that Thurmond was first considered seriously for the prestigious Palmer Cup post, only to see the job awarded to Florida coach Buddy Alexander (who subsequently selected an eight-man roster that included Tacoma’s Michael Putnam). As Top Dawg in 2008, it will be Thurmond’s duty to help select and prepare the eight golfers who will represent the United States at the three-day tournament, June 3-5 at Cherry Hills Golf Club in Englewood, Colo., home to The International on the PGA Tour. Team USA holds a 6-5-1 edge all-time in the series, though Europe has won two of the last three, a fact that Thurmond was well aware of when we caught up with him a few weeks ago. CG:    What was your reaction to your selection?   MT: “I try not to get too caught up in seeking honors, but I must admit that I’ve always really wanted to coach the Palmer Cup. There have been a couple of other years when I was led to believe I’d be the coach, but wasn’t picked, so when they called this year and asked if I’d be interested in consideration, I pretty much said, ‘Yeah, sure, whatever.’ I didn’t think this would be the year for me. Then they called me in December and told me I’d been picked, and I had to keep it quiet until January. That was tough.” CG:    What will be your main duties as coach? MT: “My main duties will be just to prepare the team to compete, learn the course, come together as a group and make the lineups for the days of competition. I plan to bring a lot of energy and fun to the event this year. I don’t get a chance to really know the team well before the event, so we’ll all be learning about each other on the fly. I hope we can have a team that plays well together with great passion. My job, essentially, is doing anything I can do to help them win.” CG:    How much input do you have on  team selection? MT: “There’s a selection committee that will be responsible for choosing the players. At the end of the day, that is probably the most significant thing for our success. I will have input on all selections, but not isolated from the others on the committee.” CG:    Are any of your players strong candidates? MT: “Our top player, Nick Taylor, is Canadian, so he can’t play. [Huskies] Richard Lee and Chris Killmer are both candidates and, depending on how things go for them in the spring, I’d love to see them on the team. They’ve definitely added it to their goals.” CG:    How are you going to balance coaching the Huskies and preparing for the Palmer Cup? MT: “I’m always watching other players as they play with our guys, so there really isn’t any balancing to do. I may take a day trip to Denver to see the course and get a feel for the environment, but other than that I won’t have too much of an additional time commitment prior to the tournament. I’ll be watching with a little keener eye, though.”