Six Australasians make Presidents Cup side

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2005 The Presidents Cup | General | 16 Aug 2005

The Presidents Cup teams are now finalised and the International Team’s captain, Gary Player, has added Peter Lonard and Trevor Immelman to the ten players who gained automatic selection via their standing in the world ranking.

That will mean that for the second successive occasions five Australians are in the team. Adam Scott, Stuart Appleby, Peter Lonard, Mark Hensby and Nick O’Hern are those five plus US Open champion Michael Campbell. O’Hern and Hensby replace Stephen Leaney and Robert Allenby from the Fancourt lineup.

Lonard missed the cut at the PGA Championship and was presently surprised at his selection. “I felt that I needed to do something special at the PGA to make the team and I didn’t so to say the least I am delighted to have made it,” said Lonard on his website this morning. “Playing in South Africa in 2003 was one of the thrills of my golfing life so to have the chance to be part of the team again in the US is a great honour. The first I knew was when I received a voice message on my mobile from Gary.”

Player later said that he loved Lonard’s aggressiveness when he plays golf. He also added that he felt Lonard had played consistently all season. That comment can be questioned but Lonard has been there before and did a good job at Fancourt when picking up two points including a win over Fred Funk.

Immelman has played well at the Open Championship and the PGA where his solid last round of 71 to finish 17th was clearly enough to get the nod from Player. In his last eleven starts this season however, he has had a best of only 6th and there were several others ahead of him who had a better ranking and perhaps even better recent form. Two years ago Player made an equally delicate decision when including Tim Clark who had just finished third at the PGA so hopefully this decision will work as well.

Steve Elkington must surely have come close to selection with his amazing performance at Baltusrol. A win there would have got him in, in fact Player said as much at his press conference to announce the teams, so to have missed out by one shot is tough. He would have added experience at the bottom end of the team also which is so necessary, especially given Els’ absence and that there are four Presidents Cup rookies in the team.

K.J. Choi must surely be aggrieved at not making the team. His form is arguably the equal of Immelman’s in recent months and while it should not have been a consideration, his inclusion would have been a great boost for golf in Asia. He was ranked many places ahead of Immelman leading into this week but clearly that was not enough to persuade Player.

Shigeki Maruyama, Rod Pampling and perhaps Geoff Ogilvy can consider themselves unlucky. Ogilvy especially with his 5th place at St Andrews and another top ten at the PGA, along with a great run of consistency of late, must surely have been amongst the last for Player to have crossed off or at least you would like to think so.

The USA Team captain, Jack Nicklaus, has added Justin Leonard and Fred Couples to his automatic ten and both selections are justified. Couples has played well this year and has stepped up to the plate when playing for his country previously. He has a record of 8 wins three losses and one half in his twelve outings in Presidents Cup and that alone was likely enough to convince Nicklaus let alone some good finishes in big events of late.

Leonard’s inclusion could be questioned given that his current form is less than convincing. His record in this particular event is not impressive either having lost all three singles matches and he has not fared a lot better in the four-ball and foursomes. Zach Johnson just missed out but has been told by Nicklaus that he is first alternate.

The Presidents Cup starts on September 21st at Lake Manassas in Virginia with the International Team looking for its first win at this venue.

International Team
Adam Scott
Angel Cabrera (Argentina)
Mark Hensby and Peter Lonard
Michael Campbell (New Zealand)
Mike Weir (Canada)
Nick O’Hern
Retief Goosen (South Africa)
Stuart Appleby
Tim Clark (South Africa)
Trevor Immelman (South Africa)
Vijay Singh (Fiji)

US Team
Chris DiMarco
David Toms
Davis Love III
Fred Couples
Fred Funk
Jim Furyk
Justin Leonard
Kenny Perry
Phil Mickelson
Scott Verplank
Stewart Cink
Tiger Woods