O'Hern gets Captain's nod for Presidents Cup

BY iseekgolf.com | US PGA Tour | 2007 The Presidents Cup | Preview | 14 Aug 2007

Aussie Nick O’Hern has been chosen alongside Canadian Mike Weir as the final two players to line up in the International contingent at next month’s Presidents Cup after Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus named their respective Captains choices today.

The seventh Presidents Cup will be held from September 27-30 at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Player, the Captain of the International Team chose O’Hern to line up alongside fellow countrymen Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott bringing the total number of Australians in the team to four with Ian Baker Finch the Captain’s Assistant. The Aussies have the highest international contingent alongside South Africa whose representation in the International Team includes Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini. Fiji’s Vijay Singh, Argentinian Angel Cabrera, South Korean K.J.Choi and Weir make up the 12 man International contingent.

On naming O’Hern as his first selection, Player was complimentary.

“Nick has been a very steady player for the last couple of years. He’s been right there in the Top-10 all the time and just finished out of the Top-10 recently by a fraction. He’s a very good match player, and if I’m not incorrect, I think he’s played Tiger twice already and beaten him, which is a big feather in his cap to beat such an incredible golfer, and he’s a good team member. He’s also had experience in the Presidents Cup, and I think obviously experience is not necessarily the only thing, but it’s always a good thing, so I’m delighted to have Nick on the team.”

O’Hern was delighted that he was chosen after being knocked out of automatic selection by team mate Stuart Appleby.

“I’d love to thank Gary again for the compliment of picking me. It just a wonderful compliment that he can put his faith in me and hopefully I can contribute to the team. I feel as though I’ve been in there all along and to be knocked out at the end was a little bit tough, but it was a nice phone call to get knowing that I made the team. “

O’Hern said he enjoyed the comraderie of Presidents Cup and was looking forward to perhaps facing Tiger yet again.

“The last Presidents Cup, I got to partner with Tim Clark and Peter Lonard and we had a great time out there. It’s just a whole different feeling when you’ve got someone there who is sort of guarding your back and really wants you to do well. Normally it’s just you and your caddie out there, but to have your partner out there, and also to have your other 11 teammates can your captains and whatnot, it’s a great feeling.”

“I’d obviously love another crack at Tiger. We’ve had two great matches before and I’ve been fortunate enough to get past him. He’s the No. 1 player in the world for a reason, and I think everyone would love to have that challenge of playing him. I mean, that’s why we play the game is to play against the best players in the world.”

The 2007 event will mark Weir’s fourth-straight appearance in The Presidents Cup, while O’Hern, will be playing for the second time. Ogilvy and Sabbatini are competing for the first time.

Nicklaus, captain of the US Team selected Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan as his picks with both players making their Presidents Cup debut.

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 automatically made the International Team. Stuart Appleby, who was 12th in the International Team standings at the start of the PGA Championship, secured the final automatic spot after his tie for 12th at Southern Hills. O’Hern finished 11th in the International Team standings, and Weir finished 20th.

The top-10 U.S. players who earned the most official PGA TOUR money from Aug. 15, 2005, through the PGA Championship (with money earned in 2007 counting as double) automatically made the U.S. Team. 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.

Nicklaus’ selection of two Presidents Cup rookies marks only the second time in the event’s history that a U.S. captain has chosen two players with no previous Presidents Cup experiences (1996 was the first, when Arnold Palmer picked David Duval and Kenny Perry; statistic does not include 1994, the first year of the event). Glover and Mahan join Austin and Zach Johnson as first-time Presidents Cup participants on this year’s U.S. Team.

The final roster of both teams follows:

International Team
Adam Scott
Angel Cabrera
Ernie Els
Gary Player (Captain)
Geoff Ogilvy
Ian Baker-Finch (Captain’s Assistant)
K.J. Choi
Nick O’Hern (Captain’s selection)
Retief Goosen
Rory Sabbatini
Stuart Appleby
Trevor Immelman
Vijay Singh
Mike Weir (Captain’s selection)

US Team
Charles Howell III
David Toms
Hunter Mahan (Captain’s selection)
Jack Nicklaus (Captain)
Jeff Sluman (Captain’s Assistant)
Jim Furyk
Lucas Glover (Captain’s selection)
Phil Mickelson
Scott Verplank
Steve Stricker
Stewart Cink
Tiger Woods
Woody Austin
Zach Johnson

The combined record of the 10 International Team members with past Presidents Cup experience (Ogilvy and Sabbatini are competing for the first time) is 54-56-14, and those 10 players have made a total of 26 Presidents Cup appearances. The combined record of the eight U.S. Team members with previous Presidents Cup experience is 43-44-12, and they account for 21 Presidents Cup appearances. Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson are the only two players in this year’s event who have competed in all six previous Presidents Cups.

The Presidents Cup, a team match play competition featuring 24 of the world’s top golfers – 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world, excluding Europe – is held every two years, and since 1996 has alternated between United States and international venues. The Presidents Cup was developed to give the world’s best non-European players an opportunity to compete in international team match-play competition. The U.S. Team has won four of the six previous Presidents Cups, and the only outright win by the International Team came at the 1998 event in Melbourne. The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a tie.

Source – PGA Tour