2005 President’s Cup: Jack Taps Couples and Leonard
Jack Nicklaus today selected Fred Couples and Justin Leonard to round out his 2005 President’s Cup team. Also on the US team are:
Tiger Woods
Phil Mickelson
David Toms
Kenny Perry
Chris DiMarco
Jim Furyk
Fred Funk
Stewart Cink
Davis Love III
Scott Verplank
Gary Player also went with age and experience selecting Peter Lonard and Trevor Immelman to the International squad. The International Team includes:
Vijay Singh
Retief Goosen
Adam Scott
Angel Cabrera
Tim Clark
Michael Campbell
Stuart Appleby
Mike Weir
Nick O’Hern
Mark Hensby
Leonard and Lonard missed making the team by one place, and were considered to be picked. Jack’s choice of Couples is also no surprise considering how well he has played this season and his experience in team events. Nicklaus said on today’s conference call, “Freddy has had a wonderful year and, with his experience, it was difficult to leave him out of my team.” Player’s decided to select fellow South African Immelman because of his play in the majors this year. Immelman finished T5 at the Masters, T15 at the Open Championship, and T17 at the PGA.
The President’s Cup will be celebrating its 6th playing this September 23-25 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Lake Manassas, Virginia.
Espn.com’s coverage here.
Personally, I think the lack of Ernie Els on the International squad could make this a blowout for the US Team. However, as shown in many of these team events, the US players are so focused on individual aspirations that they cannot put their egos aside to play for the US. But, maybe with Freddy and Jack together they can get the US squad to align and actually play upto their potential. One thing is for sure, we will NOT see a Tiger-Phil pairing. Thank god!
Tweet