Greg Norman defends his decision to play Robert Allenby in the President’s Cup
Robert Allenby, part of the 12-member International Team at the President’s Cup, proved to be a whooping failure in the ninth episode of the event, and being a Captain’s pick for the event, Greg Norman is now facing serious questions regarding his selection.
Allenby, who claimed that a struggling Tiger Woods’ selection for the event will prove to be a bad choice, is now in deep waters trying to justify his own selection.
"He looks in full control of everything he's doing (but) I don't think he'll ever be as good as he was in 2000. I've seen him at his absolute best. That was a different human being. No-one will ever be close to that." Allenby said during the build-up towards
the President’s Cup.
Captain Norman, however, seems adamant that he made the right choice of picking Allenby for the event.
"I would never go back and change it. I would still select Rob," Norman said, "The way his credentials were, leading up to the final selection, no question about it – he would be my man."
Norman also implied that coming out of a poor season, the 40-year-old Allenby probably pressed too hard to perform well on the course last week, which resulted in consecutive bad performances as he succumbed to the mounting pressure.
Norman said. "I know I had that problem around Royal Melbourne – I wanted to win before I actually won there."
International Team moved into the final round, trailing the guests by five shots and although they performed well on the final day, the task was probably too big against as formidable an opposition as that of the US Team. They needed to win nine of the 12
matches to win what could have been International Team’s second victory in the 17-years history of the event. The only match International Team won against the US was in 1998 on the same venue.
Allenby failed to win a single match in the five day course of events and finished for a 0-4. Having had five chances of playing in the President’s Cup on previous occasions, Allenby was picked up by Captain Norman primarily for his recent success at the
Royal Melbourne a few weeks back. The tough Royal Melbourne has taken the best out of many accomplished golfers in the past and has been one of the dreaded courses by the visiting Americans.
Allenby has been playing on the professional circuit since 1991 and has 22 professional wins on his belt, most of them coming on the PGA Tour of Australasia. His highest finish in a major event is a joint seventh in the Open Championship in the year 2008.
He missed the cut for both the Masters and the US Open this year.
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