"Norman picks Ishikawa, Scott; Glover, Mahan get nod from Couples"

The most exciting thing about the press conference? Counting the empty seats.

Sheesh, how about some seat fillers next time, Ty? Or maybe having this at a location where the golf media might actually be present, like the third largest market in the country, Chicago?

Either way, you have to love Captain Norman picking Adam Scott.

Norman, Couples announce captains’ picks for The Presidents Cup 2009

Norman picks Ishikawa, Scott; Glover, Mahan get nod from Couples


WASHINGTON, D.C.        September 8, 2009

Exactly one month from the start of competition at The Presidents Cup 2009, the final four players for the event were determined as International Team Captain Greg Norman and U.S. Team Captain Fred Couples each announced their captains’ picks. At a press conference today at the National Press Club, prior to a personal visit with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, Norman chose Australia’s Adam Scott and Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, and Couples selected Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan.  With these picks, each team has exactly 32 previous Presidents Cup appearances amongst its members.

        The Presidents Cup returns to U.S. soil and will be contested on the West Coast for the first time, October 6-11 at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, Calif.

International Team Captain’s Picks

The top-10 international players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup Team) from the Official World Golf Ranking after the conclusion of the PGA Championship (Aug. 17) automatically qualified for the International Team.  Scott was 14th in the International Team standings and Ishikawa was 20th when the PGA Championship ended. Ishikawa won two days ago on the Japan PGA Tour when he captured the Fujisankei Classic.    Using the current Official World Golf Ranking, Ishikawa would be ranked No. 13 for the International Team and Scott would be No. 16.  

        At the age of 17 years, 11 months and 20 days, Ishikawa’s win on Sunday was his third on the Japan Golf Tour this season, vaulting him to No. 47 in the Official World Golf Ranking and making him the youngest player ever to reach the top 50 in the World Ranking (a record previously held by Rory McIlroy).  Ishikawa is also now top of the Japan Golf Tour Money List and is the leading Japan golfer in the World Ranking, having overtaken Shingo Katayama.

        Ishikawa’s other wins on the Japan Golf Tour in 2009 came at the Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic in June and the Sun Chlorella Classic in August.  Now a five-time winner, the Saitama-born teenager won his Japan Golf Tour debut as an amateur in May 2007, when he won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup at the age of 15 years, 8 months. Ishikawa turned professional in 2008 and captured his second Japan Golf Tour title at the Mmynavi ABC Championship.

        Ishikawa, who turns 18 on Sept. 17, joins five past President Cup participants who were named captain’s selections after finishing 20th or lower in the standings, although this is the first time in The Presidents Cup history that there has been a break between the top-10 players making the team and the captains’ picks: Tsukasa Watanabe (20th, 1994 International Team); Fulton Allem (22nd, 1994 International Team); Paul Azinger (24th, 2000 U.S. Team); Trevor Immelman (22nd, 2005 International Team); and Mike Weir (20th, 2007 International Team). 
 
          While Ishikawa will be making his Presidents Cup debut along with “rookies” Camilo Villegas and Y.E. Yang, Scott heads to Harding Park Golf Course with three past International Team appearances under his belt (2003, 2005, 2007).  Scott, a six-time PGA TOUR winner with eight more wins worldwide, has scored eight points for the International Team in his career (7-6-2) and joins Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby as the three Australian representatives on Norman’s squad.  

        Scott’s last victory was the 2008 EDS Byron Nelson Championship, and he has posted two top-25 finishes on the PGA TOUR this season, including a T2 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.  He was T4 at the Barclays Scottish Open in July on the European Tour.

U.S. Team Captain’s Picks

The top-10 U.S. players who earned the most official PGA TOUR money from the 2007 Wyndham Championship through the 2009 PGA Championship (with money earned in 2009 counting as double) automatically made the U.S. Team.  Glover and Mahan are captain’s picks for the second consecutive Presidents Cup.  In 2007, Glover was  10th going into the PGA Championship, but was knocked down to 11th after Woody Austin’s second-place finish at the season’s final major vaulted him from 18th to 10th in the standings for the U.S. Team.  Mahan finished 14th in the standings in 2007.  

        This year, Glover, the U.S. Open champion, finished No. 11 in the U.S. Team standings after the PGA Championship, and Mahan occupied position No. 13

        In addition to his breakthrough major championship victory at Bethpage State Park in June, Glover has four other top-five finishes on his 2009 resume, including a solo fifth at the PGA Championship. Glover is currently ranked No. 14 in the FedExCup standings and leads the TOUR in total driving and total birdies (341).  The U.S. Open was Glover’s second PGA TOUR win, following his victory at the 2005 FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort.

        A model of consistency throughout the 2009 season, Mahan is making his second consecutive appearance in The Presidents Cup.  He has made 21-of-22 cuts on the year and notched six top 10s, highlighted by a solo second at the AT&T National in July and a T4 at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational last month.  Mahan is ranked No. 21 in the FedExCup standings.  He’s T4 in PGA TOUR scoring average (69.56) and T4 in total birdies (330).  Mahan’s lone PGA TOUR victory came at the 2007 Travelers Championship.

Update on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 12:54 PM by Geoff

Rex Hoggard is first to weigh in on Captain Norman's odd selection of Adam Scott.

Here's where it was written just recently by Brian Wacker that Norman didn't have Scott on his radar, nor had he spoken with him much.

And this from Jason Sobel:

Still, it speaks volumes of the state of Scott's game that the 17-year-old from Japan was actually a safer pick than the six-time PGA Tour champion.

Comments

[The O]

Scott? I guess Norman is afraid to win.

[Tighthead]

Did Greg let his tennis coach (who he is sleeping with) make one of the picks?

[dbh]

Wow. That's crazy.
'Scott’s last victory was the 2008 EDS Byron Nelson Championship, and he has posted two top-25 finishes on the PGA TOUR this season, including a T2 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He was T4 at the Barclays Scottish Open in July on the European Tour. '
Get 'em while they're hot. Not.

[Scott]

This pick is not any stranger than Gary Player choosing Mike Weir. Scott could play well in the matches. Weir was not playing well but did beat Tiger in singles.

[Tighthead]

Scott - Weir was chosen to sell tickets and get home field advantage. Regardless of Scott's ranking, he seems to be in a very dark place right now.

[OWGR Fan]

Probably safer for Norman to take Scott over Michael Sim and not have to answer you PICKED WHO for the next month.

Ryo being picked reeks of a secret PGA Tour directive from the VP of the VPs to expand the PGA Tour platform globally via vertical and horizontal, indifference, I mean integeration of some term yet to be uttered by Commish Finchem.

Really that's the two best Norman can do?

[The O]

Michael Sim is a stud. Sucks for him that he earned his battlefield promotion right before the playoffs. That would have been a good pick. Risky, but can't fault a guy for picking a dude who's setting the tour he's on on fire. Oh wait, he did. He should have done it twice.

[SGarrett]

I read a few days ago that Norman planned to make his captains picks based on "recent form." Scott has missed 10 of his last 14 cuts on PGATour and his best finish in the 4 cuts he did make was T36. That is not "in form" - by anyone's definition and the media should have a field day second guessing the selection. Sim, on the other hand, has had the best Nationwide season in history. He has the lowest scoring average ever posted - along with 3 wins and 8 top 10's in only 12 starts. He also qualified for and finished T18 at the US Open. Besides Sim, there are numerous other "in form" players that Norman could have selected - if his real goal was to select a player who actually was "in form."

[Lynn S.]

Didn't Norman say two weeks ago that Scott wasn't even on his radar screen?

[M]

Wish JM SIngh would have been picked, India has quite a large population last time I checked....

Can someone explain "Presidents Cup captains don’t have the luxury of sitting players until Sunday singles because of the five-match format." Makes no utter sense. You can sit players on Saturday when the 5 match sessions go on.

Press conference was also a joke, the "international" side had one "international" phone in call, and it was about Ames. LOL. Like Ames should have even been considered.

Sad all around.

[M]

Damn, wish I could edit on here. As of this date, Ryo is #13 on the PC list, he might have been #20 when the top 10 were announced, but I dont see how thats relevant to today, when the picks were made.

Sabbatini is 11th, and JM SIngh was 12th. Scott is 16th.

[The Walking Golfer]

Scott has no confidence in his game right now and he will be put right into the meat grinder with a bunch of American guys who are on form, in a hostile environment (ish) - Norman should have gone with someone who has a hot hand at the moment, not a guy who bought a G5 and has barely made a cut on Tour since.

[Geoff]

Here's the story by Brian Wacker where Scott was not on Norman's radar a few weeks ago.

http://www.pgatour.com/2009/tournaments/presidentscup/08/18/team.update/index.html

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Adam Scott? Well, at least Ol' Wally will be happy, along with Burberry. Reminds me of Lanny Wadkins' pick of Curtis Strange for the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill, except that Scott is still working on his first big win (sorry, Tim and Ty), not to mention second. Norman continues in his lame-i-tude.

[Chuck]

This proves the essential point about Greg Norman's legacy in the world of golf; he is a genius when it comes to marketing apparel and other soft-goods.

[sergio]

Scott:

Weir didn't miss 10 of 14 cuts rolling into the event either.

Its a weak pick.

[Tom]

Jeev Singh is the iron man of the European Tour and it would have been nice to see him on the International squad. He was injured over the summer though he kept playing pretty regularly. Don't know his current status. I'd prefer to think that Captain Norman would have gone with him if he was ready to go, wish I knew! And I vaguely recall a Rory Sabbatini injury report a month or two ago, can anybody confirm? It's possible that Norman's options were a bit more narrow than we suppose.

[Kevin]

Good thing this is just the President's Cup.

[Farmingdale]

Re: A. Scott...that's truly mindblowing.

OWGR, I agree on the "tour directive". Big asian community in the area, Tour probably has some plan for sucking a bunch of cash out of Japan, etc... Only problem is that Greg Norman is the Captain and if anyone isn't going to take a "tour directive" for the team it's good ol' Greg. Oh wait, this is the same Greg Norman that picked A. Scott?!? Sheeeiite, anything is possible...

[JoeGolfer]

Wally must have asked Greg to take him. I am sure they are Buddy Buddy.

[taffy]

Everything I read indicated that Adam Scott didn't think he should be picked. Don't know if possible but Adam should turn down the selection. He is chopping. No confidence. Lousy pick. Don't care if Adam and Greg are mates. Thankfully this event is so far down on my personal totem pole that it won't matter much to me.

[Longy]

1. Typical Norman. "My presence alone will lift Scott's game"
2. Norman's been taking lessons from the Australian Cricket team selectors.
3. Ian Baker Finch must consider himself unlucky to miss out.
4. Bring back David Graham

[Morg]

Anyone want to take a stab at coining a new term for a cross-generational bromance? I can think of at least a dozen more deserving guys for that spot.

[Fo Shiz]

Morg:

I believe Nabokov referred to this kind of romance in his lesser-known masterpiece "Brolita".

[sergio]

holy crap thats good fo shizzzz

[Pickworth]

If there was tour pressure to pick the Japanese lad, then I can imagine Norman saying, well, if you're going to push me about that then I'm having this other pick as my piece of freedom in all this. I can see that leading to a lot of ego stuff in relation to the selection of Scott. Profile, good looks, style, no brains.

[Ian C]

Wouldn't expect Scott to turn the spot down if offered. Look what happened to Sandy Lyle after he did the same - Euro Tour bigwigs never forgave him and offered the captaincy to lesser players like Mark James and Sam Torrance.

[chico]

Would have loved to see Milka Singh play-crazy swing-terrific player.

[chico]

Would have loved to see Milka Singh play-crazy swing-terrific player.

[Morg]

Brolita. Oh snap.

[Farmingdale]

Good points Pickworth.

[Farmingdale]

I was looking at Adam's results this year and it's stunning (stunningly bad).

18 tourneys, 11 missed cuts.

He made $550k the first 2 weeks of the year, and then only $200k over the next 16 events. 108 on the money list.

Has Norman answered any questions on the topic yet?

It just doesn't seem like there's any way Adam Scott can make a positive contribution to this team (at least in terms of winning points).