Presidents Cup 2007

Team captains scout Presidents Cup site, where world’s best will square off in fall showcase
RANDY PHILLIPS, The Gazette
Published: Tuesday, June 05, 2007

International team captain Gary Player said the first name he looks for in the ranking of players eligible for the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal is Canada’s Mike Weir.

But Player stressed, once again, that Weir and fellow Canadian Stephen Ames will have to earn their way onto the 12-man International squad that will tee off against Jack Nicklaus’s defending champion United States team in the biennial match play event that will played in Canada for the first time Sept. 25-30.

Neither Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, nor Ames, who won the Players Championship last year, will be picked for sentimental reasons.

“Is this a sentimental tournament or is it to try to win? That’s the big question,” Player said yesterday when asked about the players’ status as far making the team as captain’s picks if they’re not among the top 10 to earn spots.

“Weir, having been a dominant player and being a wonderfun I look for on the list my office sends me every week, because he’s Canadian. I know he’s starting to swing better, although he didn’t make the cut (at the Memorial on the weekend), but I understand he’s going a bit better,” Player said.

“But I cannot put people on the team because of sentiment. We owe it to the team and we owe it to the public that the teams are as competitive as possible to try to win the event.”

Ames is ranked 15th among players eligible for the International team. Weir is 18th

“Let’s wait and see. There are still 10 (PGA Tour) tournaments to go. I have a lot of confidence that one of them will make the team,” Player said.

Player and Nicklaus were at Royal Montreal yesterday where they joined officials from the PGA Tour and Royal Montreal, and local politicians - including Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay - to launch the final stage of preparations for the event.

The team captains were to have toured Royal Montreal’s Blue course for their first look at the historic layout that was renovated by renowned course architect Rees Jones.

Rain washed out the opportunity, so the captains spoke at length about the possible composition of their teams, as well as the significance of the event.

Nicklaus flew in early yesterday morning on his private jet from Dublin, Ohio, site of his Memorial tournament, which was won Sunday by South Korean K.J. Choi.

With the number of Australians and South Africans regularly atop PGA Tour leaderboards this season, he said the International team has a sizeable edge over the U.S. heading into the Presidents Cup.

Australia’s Adam Scott is the top-ranked International player, followed by Ernie Els of South Africa, Vijay Singh of Fiji, Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, South Africans Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini, and Trevor Immelman, Choi, and Aussies Nick O’Hern and Aaron Baddeley. Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby, also Aussies, are 11th and 12th, respectively.

World No. 1-ranked Tiger Woods tops the U.S. rankings, followed by Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, Charles Howell III, Stewart Cink, Brett Wetterich, John Rollins, Scott Verplank and Mark Calcavecchia. David Toms and Lucas Glover are 11th and 12th, respectively.