Get excited. Presidents Cup 81 days away.
It it time to start getting excited.
We are officially 82 days away from the first shot at the 2011 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne (Nov 14 – 20), the scene of the only victory for the International Team in eight attempts.
The International Team has good reason to be thinking about a second victory. The sandbelt location of Royal Melbourne is unlike the majority of golf courses in the United States, and the team is also shaping up to be a good one.
A brief look at the current standings for the teams below, reveals a competitive International Team in arguably better form than the US Team. But what I find interesting is the players in 11 – 20th spot.
While I’ve heard otherwise, I think the US Team has greater depth than the International one, and if the event was played today with players in positions 11 – 20 pitted against each other, the Internationals would get a hiding.
Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson and Rickie Fowler look far more potent than the likes of Richard Green, Yuta Ikeda, Rory Sabbatini and Geoff Ogilvy for example.
Luckily for us, only the top-10 players automatically qualify for the teams with two more players to be chosen by team captains Greg Norman and Fred Couples.
|
USA
|
Internationals
|
|
|
1
|
Steve Stricker
|
Adam Scott
|
|
2
|
Matt Kuchar
|
Jason Day
|
|
3
|
Phil Mickelson
|
Charl Schwartzel
|
|
4
|
Nick Watney
|
K.J. Choi
|
|
5
|
Dustin Johnson
|
Kyung-tae Kim
|
|
6
|
Bubba Watson
|
Retief Goosen
|
|
7
|
David Toms
|
Ernie Els
|
|
8
|
Webb Simpson
|
Louis Oosthuizen
|
|
9
|
Hunter Mahan
|
Y.E. Yang
|
|
10
|
Bill Haas
|
Ryo Ishikawa
|
|
11
|
Jim Furyk
|
Tim Clark*
|
|
12
|
Rickie Fowler
|
Geoff Ogilvy
|
|
13
|
Bo Van Pelt
|
Robert Allenby
|
|
14
|
Brandt Snedeker
|
Aaron Baddeley
|
|
15
|
Zach Johnson
|
Rory Sabbatini
|
|
16
|
Jason Dufner
|
Yuta Ikeda
|
|
17
|
Ryan Moore
|
Vijay Singh
|
|
18
|
Keegan Bradley
|
Richard Green
|
|
19
|
Mark Wilson
|
Hiroyuki Fujita
|
|
20
|
Jonathan Byrd
|
Brendan Jones
|
*Tim Clark has ruled himself out of the Presidents Cup due to injury. He will be one of Greg Norman’s assistants.
Looking at the top 10 of each I would be more happy with the Internationals. You have more Major winners in there who not what true pressure is all about it. You also have two of the best players this year in Adam Scott and Jason Day.
Is Keegan Bradley one of the automatic Captains picks because he won the PGA? If so that would mean Jim Furyk will miss out as Tiger would be the other one – even with his absolutely dismal form this year.
There’s no automatic picks for the captain’s picks but I hear what you are saying. He has been outstanding and Couples has a dilemma when it comes to his choices.
Woods played well at the Masters but seriously how could you really take him in the side on current form. The only reason for this to happen is for TV ratings or keeping Tim Finchem happy.
It’s a long way off having the Ryder Cup rivalry, but well worth taking the opportunity to see some of the best golfers in the world.