Monday, August 13, 2007

Canada’s Mike Weir was named Monday as one of two captain’s picks for the International team for next month’s Presidents Cup in Montreal.

International captain Gary Player also named Australia’s Nick O’Hern to the team, which pits the top International golfers against the top players from the United States.

“I’ve always valued the Presidents Cup and enjoyed playing the last three. It’s just such a great competition and being in Canada I wanted to play badly,” Weir said Monday during a conference call.

Weir has struggled of late, having missed the cut at last weekend’s PGA Championship. He withdrew from the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational the week before as a result of a muscle pull in his neck, and he tied for 34th at the Canadian Open three weeks ago.

“I felt like sometimes I was trying too hard,” said Weir, who is 84th on the PGA Tour money list this season with $927,372 US in earnings. “Now that Gary has made me a selection, hopefully I can relax a little more and play some really good golf leading into the Presidents Cup.”

The first 10 players on each team were based on world standings following play on Sunday.

Leading the U.S. will be Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson. United States captain Jack Nicklaus selected Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan on Monday to round out his team.

Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Geoff Ogilvy will lead the International team.

The U.S. holds a 4-1-1 all-time record in the matches. This year’s matches will be held Sept. 27-30 at The Royal Montreal Golf Club. U.S. Captain.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames made a strong bid to be named to the International team, including a 12th place finish in last weekend’s PGA Championship. He was among the leaders throughout the weekend, but shot a six-over-par 76 on Sunday to slip from the top-three into 12th spot.

Ames is 54th on the money list with $1,184,339 in paycheques.

“It was very, very close, actually,” said Player. “He (Ames) played so well in the PGA, the way we worked it out, he had to finish in the top four, which I actually thought he’d do the way he was playing. If he had finished fourth solo, he would have finished in top-10 (and earned an automatic team spot). Unfortunately he didn’t have a very good round.

“But obviously everybody was on my mind. It’s a very difficult thing to select a team.”

Ames had been looking forward to the possibility playing on Canadian soil.

“I’m truly disappointed that I was so close to the honour of playing for the International Team and that it didn’t quite happen for me this time around,” he said.

“As a proud Canadian, I was excited about the idea of playing in the Presidents Cup especially given that it is being played in Canada for the first time. I certainly feel that I have played well enough over a sustained period of time to warrant selection, but I also know how many talented players there are to choose from on the International side.”
© CanWest News Service 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.

The International Presidents Cup rankings have shifted this week after K.J. Choi’s win at the Memorial Tournament Presented by Morgan Stanley. After being ranked No. 12 last week, Choi is now up to No. 8 in the Presidents Cup standings.

Choi jumped 36 spots in the FedExCup standings into eighth place as well, plus moved up 15 spots to No. 17 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Choi’s win and Aaron Baddeley’s top-10 finish at the Memorial Tournament moved the last three spots on the International list around. With Choi now in the eighth spot, Nick O’Hern moves down to No. 9. Baddeley moved up to the tenth spot in the rankings, bumping Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby out of the top-10, although both Appleby and Allenby are still right on Baddeley’s heels.

Across the pond, the rankings changed little. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Charles Howell III remain in the top-five. Mark Calcavecchia holds the coveted 10th position in the rankings, but David Toms is dangerously close to taking it from him.

Canadians Stephen Ames and Mike Weir have only a few weeks left to boost their points to be able to play in their home country at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Canada. Ames is currently ranked 15th while Weir sits in 17th place.

If Weir were to make the team, or if he was selected by team captain Gary Player, it would be his fourth consecutive Presidents Cup. Ames has not previously been a member of a Presidents Cup team.

This will be Mickelson’s seventh time playing in the Presidents Cup. Mickelson has played in every Presidents Cup since its inauguration in 1994. He has played for captains Hale Irwin, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Ken Venturi.

Davis Love III has been the only other American to play in all six Presidents Cup events. Ranked at No. 15, he could potentially join Mickelson to play in his seventh.

Vijay Singh, currently No. 3 in the International rankings, will also likely make the team for the seventh time. Singh would become the only international player to play in all seven Presidents Cup competitions. Nick Price is behind him, having played in five.

The top 10 American players and top 10 International players as of Aug. 13 will make the team, lead by captains Nicklaus and Player. Nicklaus and Player will each add two players to their teams that were outside of the top 10 in August as well.

MONTREAL, Que.–At a press conference at The Royal Montreal Golf Club attended by Presidents Cup Captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, the PGA Tour unveiled a cross-Canada tour of The Presidents Cup Trophy beginning June 11th in Victoria, BC. The fifteen week tour conducted by the Canadian Professional Golf Tour will stop at every tournament on the Canadian Tour this summer visiting communities across the country to celebrate The Presidents Cup competition at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, September 27 to 30.

“We are excited to be partnering with the Canadian Tour to help bring The Presidents Cup celebration to Canadians from coast-to-coast” stated Michael Bodney, PGA Tour Senior Vice President of Championships. “We not only look forward to a great event at Royal Montreal in September, we hope this cross-country tour will solidify the importance of the Canadian Tour to the promotion and vitality of the game in Canada.”

In addition to appearances at each of the nine events conducted by the Canadian Tour across Canada beginning with the Times Colonist Open in Victoria the week of June 11th, The Presidents Cup Trophy will reach markets from coast-to-coast. PGA Tour Productions, Golf Channel, PGATOUR.com and CANTOUR.com, the official website of the Canadian Tour, will all chronicle The Presidents Cup Trophy Tour as it moves across the country.

“A total of 12 Canadian Tour alumni have played in The Presidents Cup since 1994 and there are players out here today who will one day join them.” stated Canadian Tour Commissioner Richard Janes, who is also a member of The Presidents Cup Committee. “It is an honor to partner with the PGA Tour to help celebrate The Presidents Cup with golf fans across Canada. This is the most significant golf event ever staged in Canada and one of the most important world sporting events that we will ever see.”

The Presidents Cup is a team match-play competition featuring 24 of the world’s top golfers, including 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world outside of Europe. Held every two years since 1994, it has alternated between the United Sates and international venues. The 2007 Presidents Cup in Montreal will mark the seventh playing of the event and the third time that it has been contested outside of the United States.

The Canadian Tour is a not-for-profit association of 220 touring professionals from more than a dozen countries around the world. An associate member of the International Federation of PGA Tours with events in Mexico, the United States and major markets across Canada, Canadian Tour alumni who have played in The Presidents Cup since its inception in 1994 include Mike Weir, Chris DiMarco, Stuart Appleby, Craig Parry, Tim Clark and Kirk Triplett. A total of 12 Canadian Tour alumni have played in The Presidents Cup, with eight players wearing the International Team colours and four others representing the United States Team.

The event will be held in Canada for the first time this fall.

International captain Gary Player told a news conference today that Ames and Weir can forget about being sentimental choices for the team.

Player joined U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Ile Bizard, Que., to preview the match-play tournament.

Both said the growth of international golf augurs well for an exciting event this September.

The biennial tournament pits the top U.S. golfers against the top non-European players.

The U.S. side won the 2005 edition, edging the International team 18.5 to 15.5.

ÎLE-BIZARD, QUE. — The Presidents Cup is more than three months away, but things are already humming here at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, which will play host to the biennial competition between International and U.S. teams of 12 players. The field will have 24 of the world’s top players, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh.

But Royal Montreal’s members and most anybody interested in the event across Canada have one question above all: Will Mike Weir be on the International side? Weir is 17th on the list of players eligible for the International team, comprising golfers from outside the United States and Europe. Ten players will qualify for the team, while International captain Gary Player will pick the two others.

Player and U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus will be at Royal Montreal on Monday. Player will be asked, as he was during a Presidents Cup news conference in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., during the winter and again at the Masters, whether he plans to pick Weir should he not qualify for the team. There’s no reason to think Player will offer a different answer from the one he’s been giving.

Player has said he hopes Weir will qualify through his play. Should Weir not do that, Player has said he won’t pick him just because he’s Canadian. Player’s view is that Weir will have to be on an upswing if he doesn’t qualify.

Weir has time to make the team automatically, based on his world ranking through the PGA Championship in August. Given that this isn’t a sure thing, folks at this grand old club, which honours its past in so many ways, are a bit nervous.

“I hope he’ll be here,” a female member said while playing the 14th hole this week. “But he’s struggling.” Then the woman, like Weir a left-handed golfer, smacked her shot down the fairway.

Back at the starter’s hut behind the first tee, Gren Hyland had been offering a similar view of Weir.

“It would be too bad if he doesn’t make it,” he said. “I think he was one of the people involved in getting the Presidents Cup here.”

Weir talked up the event when the PGA Tour was looking for a site. Now that it’s around the corner, the action is picking up. Work on the television compound is beginning; the compound will be 6 1/2 times bigger than it was when the 2001 Canadian Open was here.

Then there’s the matter of security. A chain-link fence is being built around the Blue course, and there will be only four entrances to the property. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has accepted the role of honorary chairman and will attend the opening ceremony on Sept. 26. It would be surprising if U.S. President George W. Bush made an appearance. It’s more likely that a former U.S. president would show up, if anybody from that high a position does appear. After all, it is the Presidents Cup, and U.S. leaders have attended earlier competitions.

Fan interest seems to be rising already. Some visitors on layovers in Montreal have taken cabs to the course to pick up Presidents Cup merchandise.

In the meantime, planning for the huge event continues. Architect Rees Jones has pretty well redone the course. He’s reworked it to cope with how far tour professionals are hitting the ball, but hasn’t done this with length alone.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the respect Royal Montreal pays its past. The club moved to this site in the late 1950s and has 45 holes. The original club began in 1873 and played on Fletcher’s Field in Montreal. Royal Montreal is the oldest golf club in North America. The club competes against the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., in the oldest international match still going. The first match was held in 1898.

The club’s history is everywhere here, which makes a visit an enriching experience. The first Canadian Open was held at Royal Montreal in 1904. Willie Davis was the club’s first professional. Some interesting responsibilities accompanied his appointment in April of 1889.

The original notice, posted on a clubhouse wall, indicates that, for 30 cents an hour, Davis “shall carry the member’s clubs and instruct him in the game.” This gives new meaning to the term professional caddy.

Rules are rules, but things do change. The club’s members just voted to allow golfers to wear short socks rather than knee-high socks when they wear shorts. That’s progress.

But for progress that really matters come September, the members are praying that Weir will make the International team. They don’t want him to be history. They want him to make history, at a club that’s all about history.

The race to make the International team for the Presidents Cup is heating up, and it’s going to be harder than ever to get a start.

Such is the depth of talent from outside the US and Europe that Aaron Baddeley, who currently is ranked 26th in the world, would not make the International team if it was selected now.

The side will be finalised after August’s US PGA Championship.

Ten players will earn automatic selection from the world rankings, with captain Gary Player picking two others to take on the Americans at Royal Montreal in Canada in September.

Ten International players currently are ranked among the top 25 in the world, a huge transformation in the past decade.

Stuart Appleby recalls that a world ranking in the low 60s was good enough to make the team in 1998.

Now, a ranking in the mid 20s is no guarantee.

“Not blowing my whistle, but if I don’t get in the team, we’re going to have one hell of a team,” said Appleby, whose world ranking of 19 leaves him ninth on the International standings.

Added Robert Allenby, speaking on the eve of the Masters: “It should be hard to make the team, because it is the rest of the world.

“It’s not surprising to me, because that’s the way golf is going.”

Based on current standings, five Australians would make the team - Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Nick O’Hern, Allenby and Appleby.

The other automatic berths would go to South Africans Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman, Fiji’s Vijay Singh and Korean KJ Choi.

Notably absent are any Canadians, although Stephen Ames, a Trinidad-born Canadian citizen, is 12th in the standings and has a good chance to play his way in.

Canada’s favourite son, 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, has been quiet the past couple of years and is currently 19th in the International standings.

Player has said he will not use Weir for a captain’s pick simply to put a Canadian on the team, but it’s hard to imagine the local galleries getting too worked up to support an International team that does not include at least one of their own.

Meanwhile, Appleby is excited the 2011 Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne after a break of 13 years.

“There’s no more fitting place to put a premium tournament than Royal Melbourne,” he said, assuming that’s where the event will be held, even though there has been no announcement.
AAP

So the Presidents Cup is still almost eight months away, but the PGA Tour held a conference call with the two captains of the respective squads — Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. There were lots of pleasantries throughout the proceedings, before Player, who has never seen hyperbole that he couldn’t embrace, started talking about horseback riding. Yep, you heard that right.

Player: I think it’ll be one of the big sports that have taken place in Canada. Golf is obviously growing a great deal there. I’m sure Jack has designed some golf courses there. I’m doing my first golf course in a place call Cranbrook. In fact, I did my site visit on horseback. Thank God I’m a horseman; otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to walk the next day.

Ummmm, hold on there, horseback riding? I hear an Ennio Morricone soundtrack starting up in the background. Now that we have the appropriate background music, please continue Mr. Player:

Player: When I went there (ed note: on horseback), to Cranbrook they were all talking about the Presidents Cup, which was very, very encouraging for me to hear that, and I had a lot of the Canadians that are down in Florida this time of year playing some tournaments down in Florida, they were all saying how they’re looking forward to it.
So the hype is being built up, and I believe they’ve improved the golf course.

Player noted that Mike Weir, a Canadian, could be on the team and attempted to clarify whether Stephen Ames is indeed a Canadian (he is.) Both have a shot at the team and Player said he’d be thrilled to have either on the squad — but they’ve got to produce:

Q. Gary, I had a question about Mike Weir. As you know, he’s stumbled well down the rankings. He’s now 21st. Is there any scenario by which Weir would not be on the team for a Presidents Cup in Canada?
GARY PLAYER: Well, first of all, it’s my job as captain and you’re correct, he’s 21st. It’s my job as captain to put in the very best team. 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.

Some questions were then raised about Royal Montreal, the Dick Wilson course that had a complete overhaul at the hands of Rees Jones. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t comment, but some member feedback to me has been less than gushing. Anyway, it is clear Jack hasn’t seen it yet.

Nicklaus: Royal Montreal is a good golf course. It’s been changed totally since I was there, and I think I can remember my one Canadian Open I hit a 3 wood in the water at the last hole laying up. I should have hit the driver over the corner to win the tournament. Barbara kept sending me back to Canada. She kept saying, “Go back until you do it right.” I finished second seven times and didn’t make it (laughter). But anyway, it’s okay.

And just as the drama was being built up, listeners got this clunker:

Q. Gary, in about a month you’re going to hit a pretty amazing milestone. Could you just talk about what that means to you and what kind of experience that’s going to be?

GARY PLAYER: I think the best milestone for me this year has been married for 50 years. I think I’m playing at Augusta for my 50th time, but having been married for 50 years, particularly being married to I think it must be really difficult to be married to Jack or myself or Arnold because we’re always saying goodbye, and the three of us have been absolutely blessed to have the wives we’ve had. Through our wives we’ve been able to accomplish and do things in the game which has been of great sort.

Once that was behind us, the great golf scribes turned their attention back on the issue at hand. The question everyone wants to know is will Tiger come? Jack seemed to indicate yes, but he gave every indication he’d understand if the answer was no.

Jack: I often put myself in Tiger’s shoes and I say, you know, here I am, I’ve just finished winning two or three major championships, I’ve just finished playing a year end tournament that was designed to get me to play again, and now I’ve got to go play again for the glory of the game every year? That is a tough thing. It’s not tough, but it’s something… it’s not questioning whether it’s tough because more than likely everyone is going to do it. The problem is how do you get yourself up to play after you’ve played and won a couple of major championships and then played in the….
Now, for the top two or three guys on each team that can be that case.

Oh, and it all comes to an end with a question about golf design, Tiger and Phil and their respective design plans, and who is the best golf architect in the world (answer — Tom Doak or Bill Coore.) Apparently Player doesn’t agree:

GARY PLAYER: I think if you asked me today who’s the best golf designer in golf today, not because Jack is sitting here, but without a question I would say it’s Jack Nicklaus today. Nobody started because we all start and we’re all learning, but today I think Jack Nicklaus builds the best golf courses in the world.
Why? Because he was a hacker, believe it or not, at one stage in his life, then he became a reasonable player, then a better player, then the best player in the world. So he could look at a golf course from all different angles, whereas no other golf architect who’s a 15 handicap can ever possibly do that. It’s quite impossible for him to do it.

Gary Player is a great personality. A great player. But not a great golf designer. Proof, I guess, that some 15-handicappers are better designers than guys who won all four majors.

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.”

“It’s a start, I suppose, but it’s the chair off the Titanic, I guess,” said Nicklaus when asked about the plan to alter grooves in clubs to make it harder to control the ball from the rough and put more of a premium on driving accuracy.

Nicklaus, speaking at a press conference to promote September’s Presidents Cup in Canada between the United States and an International side captained by Gary Player, has long been in favour of a reduction in the distance a ball flies.

“I’ve never really spoken to any ball manufacturer who has actually told me that they’re against it,” he commented. “I’ve spoken to quite a few who are for it.

“If you take the ball and roll it back, whatever the percentage might be (10% has been talked about), you really are bringing about 17,000 or 18,000 or 19,000 golf courses in the United States that are basically obsolete to the professional back into play for a possible event.

“The average golfer now has a golf ball that is so high tech and clubs that are so high tech that they may hit the ball on the face of the golf club maybe one out of 10 shots.

“When they hit that one out of 10 shots on the face they say ‘Wow, look how far that goes’ and they love it. But on the other nine shots the ball goes much shorter than it would have if they didn’t have such a high-tech piece of equipment or ball.

“Part of this whole thing is to bring people in the game and keep them in the game. And if you have a golf ball that you don’t know whether you’re going to hit it on the face or not and there’s 50 yards of difference between a good shot and a bad shot, it’s hard to learn how to play golf.

“I’d love to see the game be brought together for the average golfer and the pros. Right now all they advertise on television is ‘play what the pros play’. Well, they can’t play it - they just don’t have the clubhead speed to play it.”