Fred Couples and Greg Norman pick on each other’s selections ahead of the President’s Cup
As the year is closing in on the coveted President’s Cup at the Royal Melbourne in Australia, Captains of both teams have decided to take a an all-offensive posture towards each other, openly criticizing the decisions they have made regarding their choice
of players.
The “Great White Shark”, Greg Norman, who is leading the International team, was the first one who lamented Fred Couples decision to pick Tiger Woods for one of the remaining two berths in the team. Woods has not won a single event in the past two years
and has now fallen out of the top-50 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). Many of the critics considered Couples decision to hand pick Woods as severely influenced by his long relations with the former world number one. Norman went over to the extent
of predicting that Woods will not be able to win a single major, let alone breaking Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 major titles.
Couples kept his cool for a reasonable period of time but finally blasted out at Norman’s reckless comments.
"I have no problem with Greg. He can say whatever he wants. I play golf with my clubs," Couples said. "Robert Allenby is his pick, and Aaron Baddeley, and they're Australians and I think they're great picks. But I think I can sit here and say Robert Allenby
hasn't won a tournament in 10 years."
Couples and Woods have known to be close friends for a long period of time, which primarily turned out to be the reason Couples picked Woods. He even did not consider PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley as a possible contender, who has now won three titles
on the tour this season. Couples, over the course of time, has done little to hide his liking for the 14-major-winner.
"The truth is, Tiger Woods is the greatest or the second-greatest player to ever play," Couples said. "But I think Tiger is used to getting picked on, and it's irrelevant to me."
Geoff Ogilvy, also member of the International team, criticized Couples decision to overlook Bradley despite of his splendid performance in the season. Bradley won the Wanamaker Trophy and went over to win the last major of the season the PGA Championship
at Atlanta. He won the PGA Grand Slam this week and has now moved to 26th in the OWGR. The young golfer might still have a chance to make it into the team if in case, Steve Stricker is not able to get over his injury. Stricker is suffering from
neck pain and swelled up vertebrae and has been under treatment with Cortisone shots.
President's Cup is scheduled in November this year and will be played at the scenic Royal Melbourne, Australia, giving the Interantional team an added advantage of the home crowd.
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