United States Team Captain Fred Couples used performance as his ultimate criteria when making his Captain's selections for the upcoming President's Cup. International Captain Greg Norman went a different way, opting for two very popular players.
Struggling Australian Adam Scott and soon-to-be 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa were selected to join the International squad, while reigning U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan, member of the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup team, were picked to represent the Red, White and Blue.
Scott, who had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2009, missed 11 cuts in 17 events on the PGA Tour including a stretch of six straight. The Aussie hopes to turn things around at the President's Cup.
"Maybe somewhat unexpected," Scott said of his selection." Obviously it's been a tough year, but I really am humbled by them picking me and feel like that they still have the belief that I can contribute to this International Team. I really feel like it will be great for my game to get out there, and I feel like I can contribute points and contribute in the team room, as well. I'm looking forward to meeting up with all the guys in San Francisco."
"I think there's more than one thing you look at in selecting a player, and obviously a lot of it has got to do with past experiences," Norman said. "When you look back a year ago, Adam was the No. 3 player in the world. So everybody goes through a slump. Everybody goes through slumps for different reasons; maybe it's not your game but maybe something else is just a little bit out of sync in his life to put him in that situation."
Ishikawa has three wins on the Japan Golf Tour this season, and at the time of his selection had entered the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
While Ishikawa will be making his Presidents Cup debut along with "rookies" Camilo Villegas and Y.E. Yang, Scott heads to Harding Park Golf Course with three past International Team appearances under his belt (2003, 2005, 2007).
Scott, a six-time PGA Tour winner with eight more wins worldwide, has scored eight points for the International Team in his career (7-6-2) and joins Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby as the three Australian representatives on Norman's squad.
Glover enters the international competition having a career season. In addition to his U.S. Open triumph at Bethpage Black in June, the former Clemson Tiger standout recorded four top five finishes, including a fifth-place finish at the PGA Championship.
"I'm very excited, very pleased and humbled," Glover said. "It was a goal of mine at the start off the year."
A model of consistency throughout the 2009 season, Mahan is making his second consecutive appearance in The Presidents Cup. He has made 21-of-22 cuts on the year and notched six top 10s, highlighted by a solo second at the AT&T National in July and a T4 at the World Golf Championships - Bridgestone Invitational.
"I'm honored to be a pick, again, and very, very excited to be playing for my country once again," Mahan said.
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 (Aug. 17) automatically qualified for the International Team.
The top 10 U.S. players who earned the most official PGA Tour money from the 2007 Wyndham Championship through the 2009 PGA Championship (with money earned in 2009 counting as double) automatically made the U.S. Team.
The Presidents Cup returns to U.S. soil and will be contested on the West Coast for the first time, Oct. 6-11 at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, Calif.
President's Cup Teams
United States
Tiger Woods
Phil Mickelson
Steve Stricker
Kenny Perry
Zach Johnson
Stewart Cink
Sean O'Hair
Jim Furyk
Anthony Kim
Justin Leonard
Lucas Glover (Captain's Pick)
Hunter Mahan (Captain's Pick)
International
Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)
Vijay Singh (Fiji)
Camilo Villegas (Columbia)
Retief Goosen (South Africa)
Ernie Els (South Africa)
Angel Cabrera (Argentina)
Mike Weir (Canada)
Robert Allenby (Australia)
Y.E. Yang (South Korea)
Tim Clark (South Africa)
Adam Scott (Australia, Captain's Pick)
Ryo Ishikawa (Japan, Captain's Pick)