Presidents Cup 2007

From Montreal Gazette, © CanWest News Service 2007
Randy Phillips, CanWest NewsService
Published: Thursday, March 01, 2007

MONTREAL- Mike Weir led the charge to bring the Presidents Cup to Royal Montreal Golf Club in September, but the 2003 Masters champion is a long way from making the International team.

And International team captain Gary Player isn’t about to give Weir, who has played on the last three Presidents Cup teams, a free pass to be part of the 12-man team to face the U.S. in the biennial match-play competition Sept. 24-30.

“It’s my job as captain to put in the very best team,” Player said at a Presidents Cup news conference in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on the eve of the Honda Classic. “I can’t just put a Canadian in because we’re playing in Canada and the people would love to see it. It’s my duty as captain to put in the very best team.

“Now, I am really pulling for Mike Weir, because it would really be fantastic to have a Canadian.”

Weir is 21st in the standings among candidates for the International team, an indication of how much the 37-year-old Bright’s Grove, Ont., native has slipped while struggling to regain the form that saw him consistently ranked in the top 10 in the world.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames, a native of San Fernando, Trinidad, who became a Canadian citizen in 2003, is ahead of Weir in 14th after moving up six spots with his performance at last week’s World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play in Tucson, Ariz., where he reached the quarter-finals.

The Internationals will be chosen on the basis of the official world rankings through this year’s PGA Championship, with the top 10 players (except those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) automatically earning spots, plus two captain’s picks.

If the 10-man team were decided today, it would be composed of Australians Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Nick O’Hern and Stuart Appleby, South Africans Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman, Vijay Singh of Fiji, K.J. Choi of South Korea and Japan’s Shingo Katayama.

The U.S. team, which will be captained by Jack Nicklaus for the fourth time, would include Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Charles Howell III, John Rollins, David Toms, Bart Bryant, Lucas Glover and Chad Campbell. Members of the U.S. squad are based on official money earnings from the 2005 WGC-NEC Invitational through the PGA Championship.

Weir, who has seven PGA Tour wins, hasn’t won since the 2004 Nissan Open and has only one top-25 result in five starts this year. He is missing the Honda Classic this week for the Johnnie Walker Classic at Blue Canyon Country Club in Phuket, Thailand. He suffered a first-round loss to Paul Casey in the Accenture Match Play.

“I would just love to see a Canadian make the team,” Player said. “But if he’s in 21st position, I know Mike Weir wouldn’t expect to be on the team. Whoever it is has got to earn his spot.”